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THE AMERICAN SPORTSMAN'S LIBRARY 

EDITED BY 
CASPAR WHITNEY 



THE SPORTING DOG 



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THE SPORTING DOG 



BY 

JOSEPH A. GRAHAM 

WITH MANY ILLUSTRATIONS 




THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd. 
1904 

All rights reserved 



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O 



\i\ 



LIBRARY of CONiiRESS 
Tw* Copies Received 

JAN 30 1904 

V Copyrigut Entry 
CLASS A, XXc. No. 
' COPY B 



Copyright, 1904, 
By the MACMILLAN COMPANY. 



Set up, electrotyped, and published January, 1904. 



Norwood Press 

y. S. Cusbing & Co. — Berivhk & Smith Co. 

Nortvood, Mass.f U.S.A. 



TO THE MAKERS OF THIS BOOK 

On a Virginia day, the winter of 1863, a human 
mite peeped through a fence of chestnut rails at 
the concord of a redhot Confederate landowner 
and a Federal officer over an old white setter and 
a bevy of quail, — " bunch of pah'tridges," they 
said. Every year since, the pupil has been under 
the tuition of men who know sporting dogs. 
Amateurs, professionals, scientists, market-hunt- 
ers, dog-thieves, financiers, jurists, loafers, and 
clubmen; Bluenoses, Tarheels, Hoosiers, Cana- 
dians, Britishers, Germans, Populists, and Squaw- 
men, — for the unfailing indulgence with which 
they have diminished his ignorance, he tenders 
acknowledgment. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. American Variations i 

II. Shooting Breeds 12 

III. Pointer Families 24 

IV. English Setter Questions 40 

V. American Llewellins 53 

VI. Laveracks in America 84' 

VII. Irish and Gordon Setters 97 

VIII. Greyhounds no 

IX. Foxhounds 126 

X. Beagles 143 

XI. Chesapeakes and Water-spaniels . . . 156 

XII. Fox Terriers 164 

> XIII. Choosing a Shooting Dog 168 

j XIV. The Dogs they prefer 187 

V XV. Elcho and Faust 204 

XVI. Class 210 

: XVII. Training and Care 226 

XVIII. Breeding 241 

XIX. Bench Shows and Field Trials . . . 254 

Sketches in the East and West 268 



APPENDIX 
Bench-show Standards and Field-trial Rules 
Index 



301 
315 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

No Time to think .../.. Frontispiece ^ 

FACING PAGE 

Llewellin. Light Type 17 

Llewellin. Large Type 17 

Llewellin-Laverack ig 

Pointer. Medium Weight 19 

Pointer. Heavy Weight 25 

Pointer. Heavy Weight -25 

Pointer. Glenheigh Blood 31 

Pointer. Heavy Weight 31 

Llewellin. Field-trial Type 71 

Llewellin. Light Weight. Field-trial Type . . 71 

Llewellin. Light Weight 80 -^ 

Llewellin. Gleam Type 81 1/ 

Modern Laverack 85 

Modern Laverack 85 

Gordon Setter 103 

Irish Setter 103 

Coursing on the Plains 117 

Coursing Greyhound 122 

The Mixed English and American Foxhound Pack of 

the Radnor Hunt 125 

Fox Hunting in the Southwest and the Type of 

Hound in General Use 129 

American Foxhound. Trigg Strain .... 133 

Foxhound. English Type 140 



List of Illustrations 



American Foxhound. July Strain 
Beagle. Working Type . 
Chesapeake Bay Dog 
Hunting Beagles on Foot 
Wire-hair Fox Terrier . 
Llewellin. Light Type . 
Llewellin-Laverack. Large Type 



FACING PAGE 
140 

US 

145 
149 

165 

192 
192 



THE SPORTING DOG 



THE SPORTING DOG 

CHAPTER I 

AMERICAN VARIATIONS 

America is not England. After a century and 
a quarter of iirecracking Fourths the statement 
is a political superfluity, but no study of sporting 
dogs can reach clear going except across the dead 
body of the contention that America is an ex- 
tension of British jurisdiction and infallibility. 

That settled, the next step is to thank Great 
Britain for every one of our dogs of sporting 
breed. In our actual sports we use setters and 
pointers, foxhounds and beagles, greyhounds and 
two breeds of water retrievers. Crosses and mon- 
grels need not be counted. These regular breeds 
are all British. 

In technical classification the sporting division 
includes all the hounds, the Clumber, cocker and 
field spaniels, with the fox terriers and the rest of 
the sporting terrier list. Some writers add col- 
lies. In our country, however, none of these 
other breeds — ignoring dog-fights and ratting — 



2 The Sporting Dog 

is used to an appreciable extent in practical sport. 
They are kept as fancy varieties and as compan- 
ions. In fashion and on the benches the semi- 
sporting dogs have forged ahead fast within a 
few years, and now collectively outnumber in the 
studbooks and shows the actual servants of the 
gun and leash. Attractive they are, too, and 
well worthy of care and study ; but only a volu- 
minous and exhaustive treatise would need to 
describe them in detail, since they do not differ 
at all from their cousins across the water, where 
the breeds have been elaborately set forth by 
competent authorities and where the standards 
for both countries have been fixed. Boston ter- 
riers alone have an American status all their own, 
and they are scarcely sporting dogs. 

In what does the sporting dog proper differ in 
America from the British dog of the same breed ? 
Greyhounds not at all, as yet, though if the wide 
prairies had remained unfenced, there is a chance 
that the climate and the jack rabbit, a faster and 
stiffer traveller than the English hare, might have 
caused a definite modification. Water retrievers 
not much, though the Chesapeake Bay dog is an 
American development, in form and raiment quite 
unlike any British breed. 

It is foxhounds and shooting dogs which have 
become, under American conditions, something 
essentially different from what the British sports- 



American Variations 3 

men established and have maintained as filling 
their conceptions of utility and good looks. 

Reduced to the simplest terms, the change 
wrought over here comes to this: The dry cli- 
mate of extreme temperatures, the nature of the 
grounds and game, and the methods of hunting 
the fox and shooting game birds cause the sur- 
vival of the fittest to proceed in the direction of 
a faster, lighter, more enduring animal ; perhaps 
not more sensitive of nose, but quicker in the 
reflexes of judgment and action which are the / 

sequences of scent. / 

An American will pardon every defect but one. / 

That one is inability to stand the pace. Conse- 
quently, the dog which has more beef and timber 
than his nerve and power can carry drops, as the - 
same American sportsman would say, into the 
discard and is replaced by another which can go 
the route at the pace. 

For speed and endurance are built upon the 
factors of strong muscle on a light bony struc- 
ture, a heart action beyond the ordinary, and a 
nervous energy which cannot be physically meas- 
ured, but is even more necessary in a dog than in 
a racehorse, because whip and spur cannot force 
unwilling or failing powers. 

Conformation counts for much with theorists. 
It has an importance. Utterly bad shape is in- 
compatible with easy speed. But the small varia- 



4 The Sporting Dog 

tions at which solemn criticism is often hurled 
are more to the eye than to the deed. The ratio 
of weight to power, the blood-pump, the energy 
and the hunting zeal — these are what tell ; and 
to these ends American sportsmen have chosen 
their dogs. 

Bred their dogs, one might say, but the phrase 
would be only a half-truth. The British — Ire- 
land and Scotland are one with England in dogs 
— are better breeders than we. They are far 
and away the best in the world. Horses, cat- 
tle, sheep, chickens, pigeons — what you will, the 
British breed better than others if they take it 
up at all. 

Not that they know any science of breeding 
"^.^ concealed from the rest of the world. They love 
the land and they love outdoor sport. With this 
penchant for the land and its sports they have the 
British — not less British than Yankee — gift of 
shrewd common sense, and an insistence on 
good form and approved standards which is more 
British than Yankee. It is only justice to be- 
lieve that if they had our land and our game, 
and had undertaken to breed dogs to suit both, 
they would have produced the typical American 
qualities and at the same time have achieved 
more of uniformity and breediness. 

Americans are clear as to what they ask a dog 
to do, but neglectful of any ten commandments 



American l/'anations 5 

or thirty-nine articles bearing on how he looks. 
And, as such, they are indifferent breeders — at 
least of dogs. It is history that an American 
plunges into breeding with smart confidence, 
overdoes at the start, wearies about at the point 
where he might learn something, and seeks an- 
other novelty. To the Englishman, sport goes 
with the land and breeding with the sport. If he 
surpasses in his breeding, he is gratified. If 
things go awry, he keeps on breeding just the 
same. In England the landowner has most of 
the sporting dogs. In America nine out of ten 
pedigreed shooting dogs are bred and owned by 
lawyers, merchants, and other townsmen who 
shoot by sufferance or invitation on the lands 
of other people. Breeding, even shooting, is an 
amusement and an incident. It is lightly picked 
up, lightly pursued, lightly forgotten. 

So the British are better breeders. Where we 
have the advantage is in the abundance of game 
— now, alas, becoming by degrees a scarcity — 
free to almost anybody, a country of immense 
extent, foxes which are wild animals, and the Bob 
White, a bird upon which the field dog can ex- 
hibit every quality, best to lie and trickiest to 
hide of all shootable feathered creatures. 

In the evolution among pointers and setters 
of a greater proportion of energy to weight, it 
has sometimes happened that public trials have 



6 The Sporting Dog 

brought out winners which seemed very small. 
When these winners appeared alongside of the 
larger and heavier dogs of older type the alarmists 
cried out that the setters and pointers were 
becoming degenerate from inbreeding and other 
causes. Longer experience has rather dissipated 
the alarm, though some of the city writers resume 
the cry occasionally when they see a few small 
celebrities benched near bigger beauties at a 
show. Handlers and breeders who were among 
the dogs saw that the quite small ones were 
rather the exception at all times, and that winners 
represented about a good, fair average ; more- 
over, that the noticeably small-sized winners were 
nearly always of exceptionally good make-up — 
big little dogs — and, well mated, had a good 
influence in perfecting the breed. Nowadays the 
handlers and breeders work along, winning with 
whatever can win, producing from what can pro- 
duce ; finding that there are big ones, little ones, 
and medium ones, and that academics must be 
guided by practice, not practice by academics. 
If the breeders do not stick to the game, the 
handlers do ; and so far there has always been 
a new crop of breeders coming on, with a few 
leaders, like Mr. Pierre Lorillard and the late 
Colonel Edward Dexter, who maintain their 
patronage steadily through the years. The large 
number of public events and the enormous pri- 



American Variations 7 

vate ownership of shooting dogs produce a result 
which the more concentrated and deep-seated 
breeding fancy in Great Britain cannot equal ; 
and could not equal even if the fashion of driving 
game had not diminished their use of dogs. 

So the faster hounds of further-reaching and 
mellower cry, so the setters and pointers of wider 
range and keener temperament have been pro- 
duced — not by any man's system of breeding, 
but by the constant selection of those which 
carry the pace under more exacting conditions. 

British writers on sporting dogs are usually 
ahead of us. They regard their work more 
seriously. The better books on dogs in England 
are elevated in tone, scientific in spirit, and com- 
mendably thorough. With us there is a trifle too 
much of the chip-on-the-shoulder or of the atti- 
tude that about dogs anything will do. A report 
has just been issued by the Fish and Game Com- 
mission of a western state. It is bulky and quite 
fancifully illustrated. The chapter on setters and 
pointers states sweepingly that a great majority 
of dogs used for private shooting or entered in 
field trials are pointers. The writer, on this 
premise, concludes that pointers suit the United 
States better than setters. Just as this book 
reached me, the entries of the Nebraska and 
Manitoba field trials were announced. These 
two entry lists included most of the dogs which 



8 The Sporting Dog 

the trials of 1903 have seen. They were the 
beginning of the circuit. In the Manitoba Derby 
were entered 46 setters and 16 pointers. The 
all-age entries were 33 setters and 16 pointers. 
In Nebraska the Derby had 52 setters and 26 
pointers ; the all-age stake 42 setters, one of them 
Irish, and 24 pointers. If all had been pointers 
or all setters, the difference would not have been 
material, since either breed is, all in all, as good 
as the other. But it makes a big difference 
when an official report proclaims a fact which is 
not a fact and draws a conclusion which is viti- 
ated from the start. The subject was dogs and 
the author set down carelessly a casual impres- 
sion, formed nobody knows how. The studbooks 
show a like preponderance of setters in private 
hands. 

The English do these things better. Stone- 
henge, not now up to date even with revision, 
was an example of lucidity, judicial care, and 
ripened observation worthy of an honored place 
in any literature. Rawdon Lee was a later au- 
thority of the same type. Even Mr. Lane, whose 
chipper book is but three years old, possesses a 
freedom from pseudo-literary affectation and a 
wholesome sincerity of treatment which inspire 
confidence in his message as far as it goes. 

Still, though we breed erratically and write 
loosely, we undoubtedly have, in " class " of per- 



American Variations 9 

formance at work, the best bird dogs and hounds 
ever seen. If this seems a broad statement, I 
must refer to Enghsh sportsmen of my acquaint- 
ance who have done hunting and shooting on 
both sides. 

That being the fact, it becomes worth while 
to inquire into the history of our sporting dogs 
and to formulate some of the methods we use in 
handling them. 

The reader will understand that the American 
modification here considered is not accepted by 
all Americans. There has been a conflict, some- 
times bitter, between those who would adhere 
strictly to English ideals and standards and those 
who would press into recognition the American 
changes. The East, generally speaking, is the 
conservative section, supported by many Cana- 
dian sportsmen. 

English setter men have conducted the factional 
contest most sharply. Soon after the introduc- 
tion of bench shows, the American school, led by 
bench and field judges like Major Taylor, now of 
New York, Mr. P. T. Madison of Indianapolis, 
Mr. P. H. Bryson of Memphis, General Shattuc 
of Cincinnati, and Mr. W. S. Bell of Pittsburg, 
insisted on awarding bench prizes to the lighter 
type. Twice a club has been organized to formu- 
late a new written standard. The first was fifteen 
years ago, the second in 1 900-1 901. These new 



lo The Sporting Dog 

standards were not accepted by the other side, and 
the dispute remains where it stood. The con- 
servative side has been upheld by Messrs. John 
Davidson of Michigan, William Tallman of Con- 
necticut, Dr. Hair of the same state, James Mor- 
timer of New York, and other judges. Usually 
the Westminster Kennel Club has alternated from 
year to year in selecting its English setter judges, 
to give each side a chance to illustrate what it 
means by type. 

American foxhounds were also developed in 
the South and West, though in practical hunting 
they have the field to themselves, with occasional 
crosses of imported hounds, in all the states. 
There are only three or four packs of definite 
English type which an English M. F. H. would 
regard with approbation. Mr. Mather of Phila- 
delphia and Major Wadsworth of Geneseo, New 
York, have the best kennels of direct English 
importation and style, Mr. Keene now aiming at 
the same forward position. 

The American sporting dog, therefore, as a 
separate development, is a prevailing tendency 
and not a res adjudicata. The changes involve 
not a few contradictions which confuse a novice 
listening to controversial assertions. But the 
separate development is a certainty, and the lines 
can be marked out with an intelligible approxima- 
tion to definiteness. 



American Variations n 

Definiteness as to the present. If I were to 
picture the future, I should describe the notable 
recent increase of preserves, some of exclusive 
ownership, some of leased privileges over farm 
lands, and make the deduction that fifty years will 
extend over America something closely resembling 
the British condition. But there will be other 
books on sporting dogs to tell that other story 
when the time comes. 



CHAPTER II 

SHOOTING BREEDS 

Accurate impressions of the general value and 
utility of shooting dogs in America cannot be 
formed from any man's private judgment, even 
when his experience is considerable. No man's 
personal observation covers more than a small part 
of the ground, and an assured estimate can be 
obtained only by averaging a large number of 
personal opinions collected from different parts 
of the country, or by an analysis of the public 
records. In preparing this book my effort has 
been to combine these two methods in order to 
reach results which will be reliably instructive. 

As far as anything can be, the records of regis- 
tration in the studbooks are free from narrow and 
factional opinions. In the American Kennel Club 
Studbook for 1902 there are 893 English setters, 
708 pointers, 70 Irish setters, and 37 Gordon set- 
ters. Out of the 893 English setters, 756 have 
Gladstone or Count Noble blood ; in the great ma- 
jority of cases both. There are 53 which are either 
modern Laveracks or carry a controlling infusion 
of that blood. There are 84 of prevailing Llewel- 



Shooting Breeds 13 

lin blood which have neither Gladstone nor Count 
Noble lines. 

The American Kennel Club registration is pat- 
ronized by owners in all parts of the country, and 
is the only studbook which the bench show men, 
considered as a class, use at all. The preponder- 
ance of Llewellin setters, and the remarkable 
command which the Gladstone and Count Noble 
families have of the situation, are conclusive as to 
the popularity of that variety of English setters. 
No other registration is recognized at bench shows 
except that of the American Kennel Club. The 
tide of preference for Llewellin setters and for the 
Gladstone and Count Noble blood is, therefore, 
conclusively shown by the setter figures of this 
studbook ; because the leading bench show special- 
ists prefer the Laverack, and are often inexorable 
in condemninor the Llewellin. If the studbook 
used by them presents such a proportion of 
Llewellins, there seems to be nothing left of 
doubt as to the English setter strains preferred 
in American sport. 

The Field Dog Studbook, conducted in Chi- 
cago by the American Field, contains for 1902 
about twelve hundred English setter registrations 
and practically all of them have either Gladstone 
or Count Noble blood, or both, though the Laver- 
ack lines of Monk of Furness, Count Howard, 
and others appear frequently. This volume 



14 The Sporting Dog 

shows one pure Laverack. The managers of the 
Field Dog Studbook separate " straight-bred " 
Llewellins from other Engb'sh setters, but this is 
not worth noticing, while, since well meant, it is 
confusing and unjust. There never has been a 
fixed strain in or descended from Mr. Llewellin's 
kennel. All through this book I shall use the 
term " Llewellin " in connection with dogs which 
have a large preponderance of Llewellin blood, 
and the term " Modern Laverack " in connection 
with dogs which have an overwhelming percent- 
age of Laverack blood, and have been bred to the 
Laverack type. 

In the Field Dog Studbook there are about 
seven hundred pointers, thirty-nine Irish setters, 
and twenty Gordons. 

While on this subject, the registration of other 
dogs practically used in American sports may be 
noticed. In the American Kennel Club Stud- 
book for 1902 there are one Chesapeake Bay dog 
and one bitch ; three Irish water spaniel dogs and 
one bitch. In the Field Dog Studbook for 1902 
there are six Chesapeake Bay dogs and three 
bitches; seven Irish water spaniel dogs and five 
bitches. 

When it is remembered that the American 
Kennel Club Studbook was originally established 
by the field trial associations in the West, it is 
curious to note the progress of what may be 



Shooting Breeds 15 

termed the fancy breeds in America. In the 
volume for 1902 there are registered 860 odd 
Boston terriers, 1380 collies and 330 fox terriers. 
When the studbook was established, the Airedale 
terrier was almost unknown in America ; yet the 
volume for 1902 shows a registration of some 
hundred and sixty Airedales — a great many 
more than the registration of Irish and Gordon 
setters combined. 

I may say that I made no attempt to exhaus- 
tively verify these figures. They may be in error 
slightly one way or the other. The evidence on 
all points was so irresistible that I permitted my 
first count to stand. 

Of course these registrations do not tell the 
whole story. The foxhound and greyhound men 
have their special studbooks. It is also to be 
said in connection with pointers and setters that 
nearly all the collie and Boston terrier men regis- 
ter their dogs, while in all likelihood three-quarters 
of the three breeds of setters and the pointers in 
use in the country are not registered. At the 
same time the general story of the studbook 
records is descriptive of the situation affecting 
the various breeds of shooting dogs. In other 
words, the shooting men of America use Llewel- 
lin setters and pointers so largely that other 
breeds scarcely can be called competitors. It is 
also a basic conclusion that Gladstone and Count 



1 6 The Sporting Dog 

Noble setters have almost crowded out other 
Llewellins and that King of Kent and Jingo 
pointers are rapidly assuming the same position 
of undisputed supremacy in their breed. 

Not only on account of their numbers, but on 
account of the sharp discussions about individuals 
and types, the Llewellin setters must always oc- 
cupy the largest space in any discussion of shoot- 
ing dogs. In reference to these discussions and 
to differences over the relative value of different 
breeds of setters and different families of pointers, 
the reader should understand that partisans never 
do justice to the dogs on the other side. It is not 
well to believe the Llewellin breeders who call 
the modern Laveracks parlor dogs and diseased 
picture dogs. As a matter of fact, I can testify 
that these Laveracks make very useful shooting 
dogs which generally come to hand without much 
trouble. It would be a still greater mistake if one 
believed in the various denunciations of Llew- 
ellins. You will hear it said that the Llewellins 
are suffering from inbreeding ; that they get 
small and puny ; that they are all heels and no 
brains. You can hear these assertions and many 
others, not one of which is even approximately 
true. 

A great many of the fashionable field trial 
winners have been rather light and small, and 
many of their descendants are not easy to train on 




LLEWELLIN. LIGHT TYPE 

Rodfield's Pride (Cowley's). By Champion Rodfield-Sport's Belle by Marie's 
Sport. Count Noble, Gleam, and Gladstone blood. Winner of several important 
stakes, autumn of 1902. Forty six pounds in field-trial condition. White-and- 
orange. Owner, Mr. John Cowley, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. This dog was the chief 
winner among the setters and pointers in the prairie chicken trials of 1902. 




LLEWELLIN. LARGE TYPE 

Count Specso. By Count Rodstone-Nona H. by Gladstone's Boy. Litter brother 
to Doc Hick. Weight, sixty-four pounds in ordinary condition. White-black-tan. 
Steady and clever shooting dog. Owner, Mr. J. E. Bright, St. Louis, Missouri. For 
a large setter, Count Specso has great activity and endurance. 



Shooting Breeds 17 

account of their intense hunting and ranging 
disposition. But this difficulty is more on the 
surface than real, since the dogs in most cases 
come under discipline quickly when the trainer 
sets himself seriously to developing their bird 
work. There are plenty of Llewellins which will 
weigh sixty pounds and more, and plenty of 
them which have brains enough to make circus 
dogs if anybody cared to use them for such a 
purpose. 

Giving the fixed name " Llewellin " in this 
country to setters of certain blood has caused a 
great deal of confusion, though it was a gracious 
idea in the first place and it is no more than jus- 
tice to Mr. Llewellin's liberality and labor in the 
interest of field dogs. The trouble is that a great 
many people do all their thinking on the assump- 
tion that whatever strains to Mr. Llewellin's ken- 
nel represents a concentrated breeding and a 
definite type. Even a superficial study of the 
subject shows that either a straight-bred Llewellin 
is a paradoxical impossibility, or that every Llewel- 
lin is straight-bred. The cursory student will also 
find out that only a few dogs of Mr. Llewellin's 
breeding were successful in helping to create the 
American favorite. Later importations from his 
kennel, like Gus Bondhu and Dick Bondhu, were 
soon discarded, and the influence of some of the 
earlier dogs, which are painted in glowing colors 



1 8 The Sporting Dog 

by the fancy writers, was utterly submerged in the 
field trial kennels. 

Many of the logicians and microscopists, who 
do the theorizing for sporting papers, will cite 
opinions and detached facts to the contrary, but 
it remains that the American field trial type of 
setter is essentially Gladstonian. For scientific 
purposes, it would be accurate to call this type the 
Gladstone setter rather than the Llewellin setter. 
This Gladstone type is a leader among American 
setters. It is wiry, compact, fast, and decisive, 
with remarkable courage and ability to carry high 
speed. Nevertheless, there are, as I have said, 
any number of Llewellin types which should suit 
all tastes. We see Llewellins having every attri- 
bute of value except good heads and good tails. 
Excellence at these two points is rather hard to 
find if all the old standards in regard to muzzle, 
skull, and stern are to be retained. There has 
been a frequent complaint in the East that the 
Llewellins represented a degeneration from true 
English setter type. The gentlemen who present 
this dogma have usually learned all they know 
from studying bench shows, where the beauty of 
the Laveracks has largely given them the prefer- 
ence. To tell the truth once more, there are 
vastly more Llewellins true to the old and ap- 
proved English setter type than Laveracks; by 
that I mean having good bodies and running gear. 




LLEWELLIN-LAVERACK 

Champion Cincinnatus's Pride. By Champion Cincinnatus-Champion Albert's 
Nellie. Fifty five pounds. White-black-tan. Bench champion ; field-trial winner, 
beating Champion Tony's Gale and others. Llewellin blood through Count Noble 
and Druid: Laverack through Tarn O'Shanter and imported Carlowitz. Regarded 
as the best combined bench and field English setter of the present. Owner, Mr. 
Edward A. Burdett, Radnor, Pennsylvania. The photograph was not taken at an 
angle to do justice to the champion's excellent muzzle and fine shoulders. 




POINTER. MEDIUM WEIGHT 

King Cyrano. By Jingo-Kate Kent by King of Kent. 'White-and-orange. Direct 
cross of Jingo and King of Kent blood. Winner of the Illinois all age, 1901, and other 
places in trials. Known as the most thoroughly broken field dog that ever won a 
Derby in the United States. Owner, Mr. J. A. Morton, Marshall, Illinois. In hard 
field-trial condition, Cyrano weighs slightly less than fifty pounds. 



Shooting Breeds 19 

Until men cease breeding dogs, the name of 
Edward Laverack will always stand highest. Any 
breeder of dogs, though his fancy may be for toy 
spaniels or mastiffs rather than for shooting dogs, 
takes off his hat in veneration when he speaks of 
Laverack. Every man of them knows that at a 
time when communication was difificult and the 
art of breeding had not been carried far, Mr. 
Laverack produced a variety of setters which in 
beauty and distinction have never been equalled 
by any creation of the breeder's efforts. For a 
half century these dogs have stood out easily at 
the head of all others in their patrician appear- 
ance ; in the elegance and symmetry which are 
evidences of gentle birth. It is hard to breed 
Laveracks good at all points, but when one does 
come right it has a stamp of noblesse which no 
other dog rivals. The Laveracks have always 
had their friends in America, and probably will be 
preserved for generations to set an example of 
quality in breeding. In the field they suit a great 
many practical sportsmen, and as long as they 
please their supporters it is idle to speak dispar- 
agingly of their abilities on birds. 

Considering pointers and setters as rivals, we 
come to a difficult question. Each breed has its 
advocates, many of them so extreme that they will 
listen to nothingr in favor of the other. Setters 
seem to meet the requirements in a larger variety 



20 The Sporting Dog 

of work and in more parts of the country. The 
pointers are most popular in the Middle West, 
where the country is open and the work is on 
wheat stubble and similar ground. The setter is 
a better water dog, and is the only bird dog suited 
to a country where briers are thick. The pointer 
suffers less from sandburs and is said to stand 
the heat better, though I never could see any dif- 
ference in this last respect. I am inclined to 
think that out of an equal number of puppies one 
could develop more good pointers than setters. 
Pointers take to their work more readily, and in 
the hands of an ordinary amateur are more easily 
handled, though the rule is not universal. This 
last quality, with the sandbur troubles of setters, 
gives the pointer the lead in amateur hands 
through the prairie states. 

The Irish setter can nearly always be made a 
good retriever on land and water, and probably 
stands rough weather better than any other shoot- 
ing breed. The Gordon's rough weather qualities 
are little inferior. The studbook figures show 
that neither the Irish nor Gordon setter has quite 
met the taste of American sportsmen. I shall 
endeavor later to account for this fact. 

In the subsequent chapters in which the history 
and the special qualities of these shooting breeds 
are presented, it seems useful to describe briefly 
the dogs which appear in present pedigrees and 



Shooting Breeds 21 

in those likely to come before the amateur in the 
next twenty years, so that the inheritance as- 
sembled in a dog's pedigree can be intelligently 
studied by the owner who may be curious — as 
every owner ought to be — about the potentiali- 
ties of his dog's family history. 

One cannot always follow the venerated coun- 
sel, " experto crede," in overhauling the virtues of 
ancient dog heroes. They were not all grace and 
glory as the " expert " pencillers and rhapsodists 
pictured them. When reading about them, one 
can see that the writers and artists were exercising 
their own powers instead of laboring for science ; 
in which they followed the old rule of historians 
and court painters. We must do what we can to 
get at the plain truth. 

Humans who have the eye for dogs will be 
broad in spirit. There is room and there is 
reason for many tastes. The true sportsman is 
a connoisseur, and the true connoisseur would 
rather revel in the perception of beauties and 
achievements, than join the unhappy hunt for im- 
perfections. Every expanded mind is first appre- 
ciative ; every mean mind is first depreciating. 

If a man has seen much of dogs, he can explain 
certain inconsistencies of the apostles by remem- 
bering his own inconstancies. I confess that I 
have had many an enthusiasm. 

When I have seen a bloodlike Laverack, say 



22 The Sporting Dog 

Queen's Place Pride, sumptuous among her sis- 
ters as the star-gowned maiden of the fairy tale, 
I have felt that a gentleman's instinctive love of 
unexceptionable appointments should weed all 
other kinds from his shooting establishment. 

If I happen to watch the work of pointers like 
Cuba Jr., Alford's John, or Alpine Lad, possess- 
ing nearly all of the best setter qualities and some 
advantages of their own, I can believe that setters 
will disappear and leave the shooting field to 
these Americans of the coat that never comes 
off. 

Then it may be Marie's Sport, the Llewellin, 
structured of steel splinters, born a hunter and a 
leader, charged with vitality and character; and 
I predict that this is the type which sportsmen 
will cause to outlive all the rest through the selec- 
tion of the fittest. 

But if it is Mohawk, another Llewellin, I see 
last, he makes the impression — stripped of 
superfluities, lithe as an otter, quick as a ferret, 
tireless as Mahomet's mare. He almost per- 
suades me that he is the finished product, the 
summation of improvement. 

Irish setter men and Gordon men have their 
sufficient grounds of choice and their satisfactions. 
Perfected form and color are more than barren 
elaborations of breeding effort. They do not 
appeal to you, maybe, or to me. But the connois- 



Shooting Breeds 23 

seur's pleasure over them is healthy, and the 
sportsman can, with either Irish or Gordon, find 
both game and his own sort of pride. Who 
knows that you and I will not be seized next week 
with the Gordon or Irish fever? 

It is the philosopher's best message that intol- 
erance is only a name for ignorance ; that only 
those who have nothing to change never change 
their minds. 



CHAPTER III 

POINTER FAMILIES 

That nation is happiest which has no history. 
Such is the good fortune of the pointer. While 
the annals of that breed in America are to the 
full as important as those of the setter, there are 
few tales of conflict. The pointer men have been 
at unity in essentials from the beginning. There 
have been no quarrels over standards for the 
bench and not many discussions except among 
partisans of individual dogs. The question of 
color has aroused no antagonism. There is no 
strife over blood lines and families, since all 
pointers of consequence descend practically from 
the same English sources and along the same 
channels. 

In 1870 the pointers, like the setters, consisted 
of what the writers choose to call " natives " ; that 
is, dogs descended from irregular importations 
and different in every locality. There were 
many of the solid liver color, and occasionally a 
man took pride in a specimen of the double-nose 
or split-nose variety. This miscellaneous native 
stock quickly disappeared after the field trial 

24 




POINTER. HEAVY WEIGHT 

Tioga Sam. White-and-black. By Plain Sam-Lady of Rush. King of Kent blood 
through Hal Pointer and Plain Sam. Field and bench winner. Owner, Mr. W. P. 
Austin, Mansfield, Pennsylvania. Photograph bySchreiber. 




POINTER. HEAVY WEIGHT 

Ripstone. By Rip Rap-Pearl's Dot. Full brother to Young Rip Rap and Dot's 
Pearl. White-and-black. Bench winner and field-trial performer. King of Kent and 
Trinket's Bang blood. Owner, Mr. W. P. Austin, Mansfield, Pennsylvania. Photo- 
graph by Schreiber. 



Pointer Families is 

pointers began to win a reputation. One varia- 
tion was introduced and attracted some attention 
for a few years, but not much has been heard of 
it for some time. This variation consisted of the 
black Papes, imported from the kennel of Mr. 
Pape of Newcastle, England. They were hand- 
some dogs and of considerable quality, but for 
some reason did not appeal to American breeders, 
I can recall only one dog of that blood which com- 
peted successfully against the prevailing strains. 
That was Mr. Scudder's Rank. He was black 
and his dam was a Pape, but his sire was the well- 
known Croxteth pointer, Maximus, so that, after 
all, his moderate success in the field trials can be 
claimed as much for Croxteth as for the Papes. 

Pointer history is marked by two epochs. The 
first was the importation of a series of large and 
handsome dogs by the groups around the West- 
minster Kennel Club of New York and the St. 
Louis Kennel Club in the West, though Croxteth, 
the most serviceable, perhaps, of that lot of im- 
portations, did not belong to either of these groups. 
The second epoch began when Edward Dexter of 
Boston and Captain McMurdo, his adviser and 
handler, brought over and bred from Mainspring, 
King of Kent, and Mainspring's sister. Hops; 
dogs of handier size, more snappy on birds and 
of better sustained speed. 

The dogs of both these epochs were of the 



26 The Sporting Dog 

same English field trial blood, the principal com- 
ponents of which were Whitehouse's celebrated 
lemon-and-white Hamlet, that dog's grandson, 
Price's Champion Bang, Sir Richard Garth's 
Drake, and Lord Sefton's Sam. Some antiqua- 
rians talk of the Edge blood and the Sef ton- Edge 
combination, but that is mere pedantry and, while 
interesting, is of no material importance. Of 
considerably more significance is the Devonshire 
blood, through Dr. Salter's Romp, which entered 
into the breeding of Mainspring and Hops. 
From an article by Mr. H. S. Bevan, whose 
relatives were connected with the handling of 
Dr. Salter's dogs, I gather that the black-and- 
white color, with irregular ticking, came into Mr. 
Dexter's kennel from Princess Kate, through this 
same Romp. Prior to the appearance here of 
Rip Rap, the black-and-white color, as once in 
England, had been unfashionable to such an 
extent that its appearance was hailed as evidence 
of impure blood, but Rip Rap's transcendent 
merit made the color actually fashionable, and so 
quickly that nobody had a chance to argue about 
it. From that time to this the black-and-white, 
lemon-and-white, and liver-and-white have been 
of equal dignity. 

Sensation, a large and very handsome dog, was 
imported by the Westminster Kennel Club. He 
was, both in looks and in pointing ability, a supe- 



I 



Pointer Families 27 

rior dog, but had not the decision and snap in his 
bird work which the field trials required. In the 
production of field trial quality he was by no 
means equal to the smaller dog, subsequently 
imported by the same club, Bang Bang, an orange- 
and-white son of Price's Champion Bang. Bang 
Bang sired Consolation, Roger Williams, and 
other winners notable both in the field and on 
the bench. By the late J. M. Tracy, the famous 
animal painter. Consolation was regarded as the 
most exquisitely proportioned pointer ever seen 
in America. 

In 1879 the Rev. Mr. Macdona brought over 
his young dog, Croxteth, and sold him to Mr. 
Godeffroy of New York. Croxteth was a large, 
long-bodied, liver-and-white dog of fast gait, but 
not what would be called handy in action. He 
had a peculiarly long and narrow head which was 
by the old-timers discussed considerably pro and 
con. Like the " Sefton head " it had both ad- 
mirers and critics, but the debate was mild and 
did not last long. As a progenitor Croxteth 
easily outclassed all of the early large dogs. His 
son. Trinket's Bang, is still held by some handlers 
to have been the best field pointer put down in 
American trials. Another son, Ossian, was a 
frequent winner. Robert le Diable, a third, was 
esteemed the handsomest pointer of his day and 
was a successful dog in the field. Trinket's 



28 The Sporting Dog 

Bang, in his turn, became a great sire, producing 
Spotted Boy and other briUiant winners, and 
Pearl's Dot, herself a Derby winner and the 
greatest pointer matron of all time. 

Among the potent pointer movements was the 
old St. Louis Kennel Club, composed of Charles 
H. Turner, E. C. Sterling, John W. Munson, 
Charles C. Mafifitt, J. B. C. Lucas, and other influ- 
ential sportsmen. Their first importation was the 
very fast, high-class field dog, Sleaford. He did 
not entirely please his owners, and in 1878 they 
brought over Champion Bow, a son of Price's 
Bang. In 1879 Mr. Turner imported the hand- 
somest large pointer of the period, the well-known 
liver-and-white Faust, by Lord Sefton's Sam. 
Faust was the admiration of all pointer men in 
his combination of high quality with size and 
substance. Dr. Rowe once told me that in the 
mere matter of intelligence in handling birds 
Faust was the best pointer he had ever seen. In 
1 88 1 the St. Louis people imported their first 
small pointer. Meteor. While small compared 
with a dog like Faust, he would be to-day a good- 
sized dog. He was beautifully balanced, but had 
the defect of a shallow head with high set ears, 
and after his sensational defeat of Beaufort on 
the bench the friends of the latter dog grum- 
bled a great deal about the "common" Meteor 
head. Meteor did very well in the stud, siring 



Pointer Families ig 

among others the field trial winner, Cornerstone, 
he the sire of Judge Guinotte's winner, Bertraldo. 

The Eastern men continued to import some 
large dogs. One of the handsomest was Graphic, 
a beautiful liver-and-white dog, a little long in the 
body but with fine chest and with a head as long 
and shapely as that of the best setters. His son, 
Lad of Bow, was a still more showy and impressive 
dog. 

The New York show of 1889 probably pre- 
sented the finest collection of pointers ever seen 
on the bench in this country and is interesting 
in history as having brought together the dogs 
of the first and second epochs — the meeting kiss 
of the old and the new. The pointer men had 
always avoided one cause of dispute by divid- 
ing their dogs into classes on the bench — light 
weights and heavy weights. In this show appeared 
Bang Bang, Graphic, Lad of Bow, Bracket, Beppo 
II, Rumor, Duke of Vernon, Brake, and Pontiac. 
Among the light-weight dogs were King of Kent 
and Duke of Hessen, two dogs which figured in 
the revolution of field trial pointers and are now 
constantly found in the studbook pedigrees. With 
eighteen in the light-weight class. King of Kent 
was first and Duke of Hessen second. Speci- 
mens of the other sex in that show were Meally, 
Bloomo, Revel III, Queen Fan, Lass of Bow, and 
Sally Brass II. 



30 The Sporting Dog 

A field dog which about this time began to 
mark the new era was Tammany. He died com- 
paratively young, but made an impression by his 
courageous, decisive, and snappy work in the field. 
Another dog of high class in the field was Van- 
dervort's Don, an imported son of Price's Bang, 
whose achievements were chronicled in the 
Northwest, chiefly on prairie chicken, though he 
was owned in Pittsburg. 

All this time there had been a good deal of 
bitterness among the pointer owners on account 
of what they claimed was discrimination against 
them in field trials by the judges who were sup- 
posed to be wedded to the Llewellin setter. There 
may have been a reason for this grievance, but it 
is likely that the trouble was with the dogs. At 
least there was never much more of that talk after 
Mr. Dexter and Captain McMurdo brought out 
their field trial pointers. Mainspring, by Salter's 
Champion Mike out of Romp, was a dog which 
had all the courage and decision of crack setters, 
and speed to compete with even the best of them. 
He and many of his progeny had a little defect of 
style in hunting with rather low head. Count 
Fauster, Spring and Castleman's Rex were some 
of his winning sons. 

King of Kent was a very fast dog of the same 
dashing and courageous quality. Mainspring's 
sister, Hops, was brought from Dr. Salter's 




POINTER. GLENHEIGH BLOOD 

Cuba, Jr. By Cuba of Kenwood-Florida. Bred in California. Liver-and-white. 
Winner in important Eastern field trials and several times on the bench before he was 
three years old. Medium weight. Owned by Stockdale Kennels, Bakersfield, Cali- 
fornia. A dog of particularly responsive disposition and pleasant manners. A favorite 
among sportsmen of all tastes. 




POINTER. HEAVY WEIGHT 

Champion Meteor's Dot II. By Meteor's Dot-Buda. Liver-and-white. Bench 
champion. Owners. Mr. W. T. Payne, Kingston, Pennsylvania, and Mr. Ben Lewis, 
Lansdowne, Pennsylvania. Called by some bench judges too light in head and bone 
for a heavy weight, but a dog of symmetry and beauty. No field-trial record. Photo- 
graph by Schreiber. 



Pointer Families 31 

kennel by Captain McMurdo, and to King of 
Kent produced the phenomenal Rip Rap and his 
younger sister, the beautiful little liver-and-white 
Maid of Kent. Both of these dogs competed on 
equal terms with the best setters and beat them as 
often as not. Rip Rap decisively defeated Rowdy 
Rod, the best Derby setter of 1890; and conquered 
all criticism in 1891 by a famous four-hour heat 
in what was equivalent to a championship stake, 
which he ran with a high-class Count Noble setter 
called Count Eric. Maid of Kent met the Llew- 
ellin, Antonio, in the last heat of the same 
stake, and many thought that she thoroughly out- 
worked him, though he obtained the decision. 
From Mr. Dexter's kennel appeared in succession 
Tapster, Zig Zag, Selah, Delhi, and Khartoum, 
along the same line of breeding. 

Pearl's Dot, the unequalled mother of heroes, 
was by Trinket's Bang out of Pearlstone. After 
winning a Derby in Indiana, she was sent to 
the breeding ranks, and achieved so much that 
her name is likely to appear in almost as many 
pointer pedigrees as that of old Rhoebe among 
the setters. To King of Kent she produced 
Strideaway; to Jingo, Young Jingo; to Rip Rap, 
the black-and-white Young Rip Rap, Ripstone, 
and Dot's Pearl ; Pearl's Fan is a half-sister. 
Dot's Pearl, owned by Mr. Turner in Chicago, be- 
came the worthy successor of her mother. She 



32 The Sporting Dog 

was a large and handsome liver-and-white bitch. 
Bred to Jingo when very young, she produced 
in two litters Lad of Jingo, Dot's Jingo, Drill- 
master, Dot's Daisy, Two Spot, and Jingo's Pearl, 
These dogs were all winners and are rapidly be- 
coming producers ; the misfortune being that 
some of the best died early. 

Jingo was by Mainspring out of Queen II. 
He was developed by Captain McMurdo, but 
did his later running in the hands of Mr. Nesbitt, 
still to-day a prominent handler. Nearly all 
pointer men and a great many setter owners 
claim that Jingo had bird sense to a degree 
beyond that displayed by any other field dog. 
He ran successfully in important trials in dif- 
ferent parts of the country. He has produced an 
astonishing number of winners in the first and 
second generation, including Young Jingo from 
Pearl's Dot, the great orange-and-white dog King 
Cyrano, Gorham's Jing, Jingo's Light, and any 
number of others. Doc's Light, the three times 
Derby winner in 1900-1901, is a grandson; as 
is Percival Jingo, another lemon-and-white, the 
Interstate Championship winner of 1902. An- 
other grandson is Alpine Lad, a successful dog 
in both his Derby and all-age form. 

In connection with the light-weight dogs which 
modified the pointer, Duke of Hessen is of 
enough importance to be specially mentioned. 



Pointer Families 23 

He was a good-looking liver-and-white dog, well 
made except that he was much more leggy than 
the original conception of the bench show judges 
approved. He was the fastest pointer of his time, 
but was not equal to either King of Kent or 
Mainspring in his ability on birds. 

A famous son of King of Kent was K. C. Kent, 
owned by Mr. Fernkas of Kansas City and 
winner of the first stake opened by the Missouri 
Field Trial Club. He was a large liver-and-white 
dog of fine style and good looks. Hal Pointer, 
another large and muscular liver-and-white dog, 
continued the King of Kent blood through Plain 
Sam and other sons and daughters. Tick Boy 
and Kent Elgin were rattling good field dogs. 

In 1888 Mr. Huston Wyeth of St. Joseph, 
Missouri, imported the black-and-white Derby 
winner, Osborne Ale. This dog, curiously enough, 
was bred almost exactly like the cross with which 
Mr. Dexter and Captain McMurdo afterward at- 
tained such distinguished success. He was by 
Priam, the sire of King of Kent, out of Malt, 
a sister of Hops. Mr. Wyeth made no attempt 
to push the fortunes of this dog and, though Ale 
sired a number of excellent pointers, he did not 
attain the reputation which probably he deserved. 
He resembled Rip Rap closely in color and size. 
Mr. Franke, also of St. Joseph, imported another 
English winner, Luck of the Goat. This dog is 



34 The Sporting Dog 

best known in history as the sire of Pearl's Fan, 
she the dam of K. C. Kent and Blackstone, the 
latter a black-and-white winner on the bench and 
in the field. 

After the dazzling success of the Dexter dogs, 
there was not much effort in the way of impor- 
tation. Home talent was good enough. Occa- 
sionally a winner out of old-fashioned lines, like 
Lad of Rush, would come out. He was a liver- 
and-white dog and a grandson of Lad of Bow. 
But the overwhelming majority of pointers in the 
hands of active sportsmen, as well as of field trial 
handlers, soon began to carry the blood of Main- 
spring and King of Kent, chiefly through Jingo 
and Rip Rap. 

Among the variations from the usual course of 
things should be mentioned Champion Alberta 
Joe, a magnificent liver-and-white dog, bred and 
brought out by Mr. Thomas Johnson of Winni- 
peg, Manitoba. In 1898 he won the North- 
western Club's championship. Joe may be called 
an outer line, but, as a matter of fact, he is bred 
practically the same as the other prominent 
American pointers. His sire and dam were 
both brought by Mr. Johnson from Mr. Heywood 
Lonsdale's English kennel and trace back directly 
to Bang, Sam, and Drake like the rest 

An orange-and-white dog which may hereafter 
achieve some status as a cross for the Jingo and 



Pointer Families 2S 

Rip Rap dogs is Senator P. He won two cham- 
pionships, one on the Pacific coast and one in 
Manitoba. He is descended from the English 
leading families through California lines different 
from those of the favorite Americans. Senator 
P. is a good-looking dog and a sterling field trial 
performer, though he scarcely ranks in brilliance 
with the greatest. 

A recent English importation is Sally Brass, 
an extremely stylish and merry little pointer which 
won a place in the Eastern Club trials of 1901 
and aroused the warmest encomiums on account 
of her attractive style, though her speed was not 
exactly first class. She was brought over by Mr. 
S. C. Bradley for Mr. George Crocker, those two 
gentlemen having a theory that they can make 
some new history with both pointer and setter 
blood from England. 

One of the standing discontents of a busy man 
is that he cannot attend many field trials. These 
interesting rivalries bring together bird dogs of 
chosen powers, and, as no two of the trial grounds 
are just alike in topography and cover, he who 
wishes to understand all the merits and defects 
of great dogs would like to see as often as pos- 
sible the running of stake events. Among my 
regrets on this score is that I never saw Rip Rap 
in the field. On the bench he was a specimen to 
attract a sportsman rather than a fancier. He 



;^6 The Sporting Dog 

was of just the right size for our American shoot- 
ing, not large enough to carry extra lumber and 
not too small for strength. Like many other 
dogs which are enthusiastic and courageous in 
the field, he was quiet and undemonstrative in 
the kennel and on the bench. His white, black, 
and ticked coat was a trifle rougher than that of 
the usual bench show pointer and lacked the sat- 
iny finish which the old pointer breeders regarded 
as essential. He looked all over a hard, strong, 
wise hunter. When I saw him, Robert le Dia- 
ble, the greatest product of the St. Louis Kennel 
Club's breeding, was also on the benches. He 
was a much more showy animal than Rip Rap, 
liver-and-white with thick ticking. Being in the 
challenge class, he did not come into competition 
with Rip Rap, but would have beaten him, I sup- 
pose, under any bench judge, if they had been of 
the same weight and in the same ring. 

Mr. George J. Gould exhibited for two or three 
seasons a kennel of pointers, which, in 1897, in- 
cluded Lady Gay Spanker, Miss Rumor, Fur- 
lough Mike and others. Lady Gay Spanker was 
held to be the best of her sex on the bench at that 
time. Mr. Gould used his pointers in his shoot- 
ing expeditions, and they were by no means mere 
exhibition dogs or playthings. 

Meteor's Dot H, now holding the honors of a 
championship, had an eventful history on the 



Pointer Families 37 

bench. He is a handsome llver-and-white heavy- 
weight dog of great style and symmetry. In his 
younger days when I saw him, some of the judges 
called him a little leggy, but he probably filled 
out afterward. He was owned by Major A. J. 
Ross of Dallas, Texas, and travelled on the bench 
until he came into the possession of Messrs. Lewis 
and Payne of Pennsylvania. In competition at 
the St. Louis show of 1899, he was beaten by the 
New York dog, Sir Walter, but I thought he suf- 
fered a little the worst of it through judicial over- 
conscientiousness. The judge was a personal 
friend of Major Ross and seemed to lean too 
much on the side of scrupulousness. At that time, 
whatever Sir Walter may before have been, he was 
not the equal of Dot, as he had become throaty and 
loose, while Dot was in the pink of condition. 

Without attracting any great amount of atten- 
tion or exciting any heated debate, the modern 
pointers, even on the bench, seem to have made 
a racial change and become short-headed in com- 
parison with the old-time champions. It is rare 
now to see a pointer as clean and long in the 
head as were most of the winners twenty years 
ago. Of course, at no time was a pointer ex- 
pected to have the long, lean setter head, though 
there was a day when the best specimens on the 
bench had cleaner and more shapely heads than 
are now usual The change has probably come 



38 The Sporting Dog 

from the influence of the field trial winners ; dogs 
which, from their compact shape, naturally have 
a tendency to thickness in the head. 

Perhaps the most extreme example of the de- 
parture of field trial pointers from the old bench 
show fancy is Jingo's Light, himself a trial winner 
and sire of Champion Percival Jingo. Light is 
also recognized as the correct cross for Rip Rap 
and other King of Kent blood, he being Main- 
spring, Duke of Hessen, Croxteth, and Naso of 
Kippen blood, with no line to King of Kent. 
He is small, thick in cheek, white with lemon 
spots only on the ears, and has ears set high. 
It looks as if there might be trouble ahead on 
the benches over pointer type; maybe the Eng- 
lish setter battle repeated. 

Much better in bench type are two young 
liver-and-white dogs, out in the past two seasons, 
Alford's John and Alpine Lad. John was the 
most successful Derby dog of 1902-1903, and this 
season has shown all his promised speed and 
bird work among all-age competitors. He is of 
the older lines of blood, his sire line being 
Graphic and his dam going back to Croxteth. 
Alpine Lad is of the Jingo-Dot's Pearl family in 
the second generation. In both the prairie chicken 
and quail trials of 1903 John performed better than 
any other pointer, and must at the moment be 
placed at the head of his breed. 



Pointer Families 39 

In the East the breeders are still ahead in bench 
form. Mr. Throckmorton's Champion Duke of 
York and Island Boy, and Mr. Mott's Princess 
Alice, can, the chances are, beat anything now in 
the West, as Mr. Westlake's Belle and Startle 
almost certainly can, while Lansdowne Malt 
would have no trouble at all in a Western show 
with anything put down lately. 

The last word about pointer families is sug- 
gested by the chicken trials in the Northwest this 
fall (1903). One prominent figure has been Lad 
of Jingo. He has been himself placed several 
times, though an old dog for trial work. The 
feature, however, has been the winning perform- 
ances of his progeny. Lad's Meally, Alpine Lad, 
and Copper Coin have all been winners against 
large fields of the best dogs in training. At the 
Huron (Dakota) trials, Coin and Meally were 
third and fourth in a Derby stake of twenty-six 
starters, pointers and setters; while Lad of Jingo 
was third and Alpine Lad fourth in the all-age 
stake of thirty starters, including many previous 
winners. Mr. Austin has been firm in his faith 
about Lad in spite of some hard luck, and it is 
good for sport that a great bird dog is getting the 
fame he always deserved. Young Rip Rap, too, 
has been fulfilling expectations by the winnings 
of Rap's Pointer and Speck's Jingo Boy at these 
chicken trials. 



CHAPTER IV 

ENGLISH SETTER QUESTIONS 

Discussion of the English setter in Airierica 
would be a history of several volumes if all the 
records and comments about strains and individ- 
ual dogs were set forth in a way to satisfy every- 
body who has taken an interest in the subject. 
For the purposes of this book it will be enough 
to briefly review the facts which are so familiar to 
experts as to have become commonplaces. The 
chief characteristics of the breed remain as they 
have been so often described by Stonehenge and 
other English writers. 

It is color which, to the ordinary eye, differ- 
entiates the English from the Irish and Gordon 
setters as well as from a great deal of what has 
been known as " native stock." There is one and 
only one fundamental law of color which can be 
applied without qualification to the English setter. 
It is that the marking consists of a white ground, 
upon which may appear small spots or large 
patches of any of the recognized colors. These 
are black, lemon, orange, liver, and tan. The 
solid white or black or liver sometimes appears, 

40 



English Setter Qiiestions 41 

and solid orange rarely. No solid color is favored 
or very frequent. It should be said that tan and 
orange or lemon are practically the same. Dark 
tan is orange and light tan is lemon. It is usually 
called tan only when it comes in company with 
black. That is, a dog is orange and white when 
there is no black marking. He is white, black, 
and tan when the orange color shades the black 
markings, or appears in small spots on a prevail- 
ing marking of black and white. Belton, which 
not a few Americans in some way believe to be a 
strain, is, of course, only a color. It consists of 
black, orange, or lemon scattered in small spots or 
splashes over a white ground. If both black and 
orange " freckling " appear, the term " blue belton 
and tan " is commonly used. If the " freckling " is 
of one color, it is blue belton or orange belton. 

These English setter colors constitute a ground 
of industrious, if not profitable, dispute on ac- 
count of the supposed relations of peculiar colors 
to the Llewellin stock which is paramount among 
the English setters developed in America during 
the past thirty years. For the information of 
those who are just beginning to study the subject, 
it should be said that the claims of color advo- 
cates have no particular support in history and 
not much practical logic, but undoubtedly come 
under the head of influential fashions and are not 
to be disregarded. In America the common 



42 The Sporting Dog 

assertion and belief are that white, black and tan 
is the correct and typical Llewellin color. Mr. 
Llewellin himself, and his relative and associate, 
Mr. Teasdale-Buckell, have strenuously objected 
to the drawing of a color line. In an urgent pro- 
test a few years ago Mr. Llewellin pointed out 
that a decided majority of his best setters were 
either blue belton or lemon belton. It might be 
said here in passing that he also remarked the 
presence of black noses and dark eyes in all his 
lemon and blue beltons. Among the blue beltons 
he mentioned Count Wind'em, the best dog he 
ever bred ; and among the lemon-and-whites 
Countess Bear, perhaps the handsomest bitch. 
Old Rhoebe was heavily marked white-black-tan ; 
and Brewis's Dash II, which he bought at a 
high price and introduced into his kennel as an 
outcross, was a blue belton with tan shadings. 
But Mr. Llewellin says that he regarded the tan 
markings as a second-rate color when judged by 
a preponderance of the best dogs in his own 
kennel. 

On this side of the water, though all the advan- 
tages have operated in favor of the white-black- 
tan through strong and almost universal prejudice, 
it is somewhat remarkable that the orange- 
and-whites and lemon-and-whites have played an 
important part even among the " straight-bred " 
Llewellins. The first championship trial of 



English Setter Qiiestions 43 

the Interstate Association in 1901 brought out 
a card of high-class pointers and setters, most 
of the setters being white-black-tan. Yet the 
three placed dogs were lemon-and-white setters 
of Llewellin ancestry. They were Sport's Boy, 
winner and champion, Ortiz Lad and Count 
Whitestone. This was in 1901. In 1902 one 
of the most successful dogs in the state trials 
during the autumn was Rodfield's Pride (Cow- 
ley's), another orange-and-white Llewellin. Pin 
Money, a frequent winner for many seasons for 
the Charlottesville kennel, was a blue belton, and 
her sister, Belle of Hard Bargain, was orange-and- 
white. Of course, an ancestress of these two 
bitches, Daisy Hunter, was not a straight-bred 
Llewellin, but the blood of the Llewellins so pre- 
ponderated in their pedigree that the color of 
Belle of Hard Bargain is quite as likely to have 
been drawn from the Llewellin side as from the 
other. 

Mr. Buckell holds that the belton color, either 
blue or orange, is indicative of what he calls the 
feminine side of the Llewellin, while the larger 
area of black patches and spots with or without 
tan indicates the more rugged, aggressive, and 
masculine type. This would seem to be specula- 
tion, and yet all of us must admit that in expe- 
rience it seems to have some foundation. For 
example, the most admired dogs in the remark- 



44 The Sporting Dog 

able Lady's Count Gladstone-Jessie Rodfield 
family up to this date have been Prince Rodney 
and Count Whitestone. Count is a delicately 
marked lemon belton. Prince Rodney is a 
strongly marked white-black-tan. Unquestion- 
ably Prince is the more masculine of the two dogs, 
not only in size and appearance, but in rugged- 
ness and aggressiveness of character. It does 
seem as if this example of two brothers had a 
certain representative value, since a majority of 
the successful Llewellins of the masculine type 
have been strongly marked with black and have 
had conspicuous tan shadings. Yet, on the other 
side, it is not to be forgotten that Dora, the bitch 
which introduced so much of the feminine quality 
that breeders hastened to overcome it, was rough 
looking and heavily marked with black ; her 
handsomer son, Druid, having the same amiable 
and docile "feminine" attributes. History does not 
seem yet to have proved, though it may suggest, 
that color is a mark of distinction between what 
the faddists call the masculine and the feminine 
types any more than it is a legitimate distinction of 
the Llewellin strain. However, the amateur must 
recognize the value of a fashion, whether or not 
it is founded on facts and reason. White-black- 
tan is beyond any doubt at present the recog- 
nized and fashionable color of the Llewellins, 
notwithstanding the notable successes of orange- 



English Setter Qiiestions 45 

and-white and lemon-and-white LlewelHns in the 
field trials. That Countess Meteor, dam of the 
star Derby performer of 1 901-1902, Mohawk, is 
lemon-and-white, and that Rodfield sired as many 
of that color as of any other, are facts that as yet 
do not seem to have affected the sentiment favor- 
ing the tri-color. 

In connection with the subject of color there is 
one matter of not a little consequence to the 
practical sportsman. A great deal of quail shoot- 
ing is done in cover which makes it difficult to 
keep a busy dog in sight. Judging from my own 
observation, I should say that four-fifths of the 
work dogs do on quail is in cover of that sort. 
In Maryland and Virginia birds are most plenti- 
ful in the neighborhood of thickets and brushy 
places. In the Indian Territory they are found 
either near " draws " and small timbered water 
courses, or else not far from the patches of corn 
which are scattered among the pastures and cot- 
ton fields. In Illinois and Missouri the same gen- 
eral character of shooting presents itself to the 
sportsman, though the country has a greater 
area of regular cultivation. A dog heavily 
marked with black is somewhat hard to follow, 
even through the stubble and weeds in an ordi- 
nary season. In the corn-fields and thickets a 
dog of prevailing white color is much more read- 
ily kept in view. If a dog gets out of sight and 



46 The Sporting Dog 

finds birds, the gun may be kept idle for many 
precious minutes just at the time when shooting 
luck would be otherwise at high tide. Most quail 
shots will support me when I say that these 
supreme shooting moments are very likely to 
occur about dusk. This fact is, of course, due to 
the well-known habits of the birds. To lose sight 
of a dog at such a moment means often a profit- 
less day. The orange-and-white dog has a de- 
cided advantage as a self-supplying signal of 
whereabouts. 

My bitch, Chiquita, during the two seasons 
when she was under my observation, was a fre- 
quent source of irritation. She was one of the 
greatest of bird finders, as field trial men in the 
central West can attest. In truth she had too 
much of that quality for comfort, since she was 
more intent upon game than upon the gun, and it 
was not an unusual thing for her to disappear in 
the direction of a " birdy " place, to be found 
after diligent search a half-hour later, stanchly 
holding a covey. The upper part of her body 
was nearly all black, and one could almost step on 
her without recognition when she was on point ; 
especially, as like most other dogs, she would 
sink nearer and nearer to the ground the longer 
she held birds. If she got into a corn-field, with 
its occasional stump and its frequent spots of 
black fungus on the stalks, I have known her to 



English Setter Qiiestions 47 

cause the waste of an hour before the handler 
could find her. Sure Shot, the fastest and widest 
ranger of Jessie Rodfield's sons, is so heavily- 
ticked that he is almost a dark gray. He drops 
on point. In public trials his handler is always 
nervous lest he get out of sight, drop on birds 
and be thrown out by the judges before he can 
be located. 

As a converse proof, I remember seeing Sport's 
Boy and Ortiz Lad down in very heavy cover, 
chiefly corn-fields and high weeds. An orange- 
and-white dog for purposes of the eye in the field 
is about the same as if he were pure white. These 
two extremely fast and widely ranging dogs could 
be seen flitting through the corn and weeds 
almost every minute of the trial, when the darker 
dogs in the same stake were often hard to follow. 
The pointer. King Cyrano, and the setter. Rod- 
field's Pride (Cowley's), have given me the same 
pleasant experience when down together. 

I mention this advantage of the orange-and- 
white color, because I regard it as of genuine 
importance. 

Another unfashionable attribute which has a 
useful function is a fault charged with some as- 
perity against the Llewellins. It is the tendency 
to carry a high flag in ranging and to take a point 
with the tail in the same high position. For 
the same reason just mentioned in speaking of 



48 The Sporting Dog 

the advantage possessed by the orange-and-white 
color, the high flag has a decided utiHty value to 
the sportsman. A dog which carries its flag 
high will nearly always point with high head. 
It must be admitted that the attitude loses from 
the standpoint of style as compared with the 
low stern and more extended and intense position 
of the pointer and of some setters, but a man 
learns after experience to rather fancy the up- 
right position and high flag. As a guide to the 
eye it comes to be regarded with indulgence if 
not with decided favor. Nearly all handlers 
agree, too, in the belief that high head and 
stern in pointing are indicia of spirit and vigor. 

Recurring a moment to the question of color, 
it might be said that probably the American 
preference for white-black-tan is due to the 
fame with which Gladstone and Count Noble 
endowed it early in the days of public field trials. 
Bergundthal's Rake and others carrying a large 
proportion of Rhcebe blood were highly favored. 
Their descendants took on a strong tendency to 
the white-black-tan, and seem to have been the 
chief influences in establishing the predominance 
of the color. 

A study of the English setter in America would 
be imperfect if the superstition in favor of the 
" pure " or " straight-bred " Llewellin were not 
thrashed out in a way to convey the true state 



English Setter Qiiestions 49 

of the case to sportsmen generally. It is hardly 
necessary to say that the word " pure " is entirely 
misapplied. There never was and never will be 
such a thing as a " pure " Llewellin in the true 
technical sense of the word as it is used in the 
science of breeding. Nor is there much more to 
be said in defence of the term " straight-bred " 
Llewellin. At least the use of the term in the 
effort to establish a fashion is likely to depreciate 
the substantial value of the Llewellin blood and 
to seriously mislead the younger generation of 
sportsmen. There was once such a thing as a 
"straight-bred " Laverack, and even now the bench- 
show Laveracks are much more nearly straight 
bred than any Llewellin that ever lived. Mr. 
Llewellin himself never made much attempt at 
straight breeding. To be sure, he first confined 
his experiments to the Duke-Rhoebe blood crossed 
on straight Laveracks, but he introduced Sam 
and Brewis's Dash II as outcrosses, and in late 
years added blood which, though similar to that 
of his original stock, came from totally different 
lines. Mr. Buckell has said recently that the 
breeding of Dash II was confused, and that the 
dog was treated in the Llewellin kennel wholly 
as an outcross, evidently possessing qualities 
which did not belong to the blood from which 
he was said to have come. 

There is no definition of " straight-bred " Llewel- 



50 The Sporting Dog 

lins which will bear analysis. The usual test is 
that of tracing back in all lines to Duke-Rhoebe 
and Laverack. Under Mr. Buckell's estimate 
this definition must shut out everything which 
has Dash II blood; and a student of pedigree 
knows that such an exclusion would ostracize a 
large number of the most respected names in 
Llewellin pedigrees. Others have attempted to 
limit the straight-bred " Four Hundred " to pedi- 
grees which go straight to Mr. Llewellin's own 
kennel. That test would exclude Bolus's Belton 
and other dogs of unquestioned breeding and 
high quality. 

Efforts to construct a straight-bred Llewellin 
family sometimes run into a manifest absurdity. 
For example, Gleam, the progenitor of one of the 
most useful Llewellin lines, was rejected by the 
exclusionists because Llewellin's Sam did not 
suit them in breeding, notwithstanding the obvi- 
ous fact that Sam, a field trial winner, was an 
English setter as well bred — almost identically 
— as Dash II and, if Gleam is evidence, of quali- 
ties more desirable than those of Dash. The 
same exclusionists have now admitted Gleam as 
straight-bred. They would as well go further 
and drop the "pure" idea altogether, letting 
Llewellin blood stand for what it is — an influ- 
ential but not separate element in English setter 
breeding. 



English Setter Questions 51 

At best, all setter pedigrees except those of the 
Laveracks had not much authenticity up to forty 
years ago, and Mr. Laverack was not beyond 
suspicion. There was no doubt of their being 
English setters if they came from the kennels of 
well-known breeders among the country gentle- 
men. The breeding was kept within setter lines in 
most cases by such men and often conducted with 
care and skill, but not much attempt was made to 
preserve the facts of individual breeding. The 
breeding was good, but the proof is missing. 
Consequently, there is not, after all, a great deal 
more to boast about in the Duke-Rhoebe-Laver- 
ack combination, when it comes to stickling for 
purity, than in the union of Mason's Jeff and 
Old Fannie blood which produced the Campbell 
setters and through Daisy F. enters into the 
blood elements of so many of the very best field 
setters in America. 

Here again the reader will recognize the value 
of a fashion. Though there is no special virtue 
in a straight-bred Llewellin as dogs actually 
stand, either on the records or in the possession 
of setter quality, none the less there is a well- 
defined fancy for this kind of breeding. If ama- 
teurs are looking for advice on the subject, I 
suggest that they weigh the value of a cult as 
compared with practical judgment of the worth 
of dogs and decide for themselves whether they 



52 The Sporting Dog 

prefer to be guided by one more than by 
the other. All of the successful lines in the 
American Llewellins are practically of equal 
studbook value, and the beginner can safely 
begin his tests of breeding at the third or fourth 
generation from existing specimens of approved 
looks, worth, and ancestral respectability. Noth- 
ing but a phrase ever made Count Danstone any 
more a Llewellin than Marie's Sport; and a 
phrase which would rank the Cincinnatus Pride- 
Queen Vic family below the untried progeny of 
untried straight-bred sires and dams can only 
be sharply condemned by good sportsmen. Race 
horse practices have their excellent reasons in 
their own domain of breeding science. English 
setters are another story. Purity of race is a 
good thing when it is good. Sometimes it is a 
misnamed conglomeration, and sometimes it needs 
breaking up and disturbance. At any rate, the 
English setter is not strictly a pure breed, nor is 
the Llewellin a straight strain. It is mere pre- 
tence to treat them as if they were. 



CHAPTER V 

AMERICAN LLEWELLINS 

At the beginning of a brief series of English 
setter studies, it may be as well to dispose at 
once of the notion that there was ever a " native 
stock " having any attributes of an established 
family. It is surprising that any man should 
mention the term in that sense; yet I have 
heard it used frequently by old sportsmen and 
it often crops out in letters to the sporting 
papers, apparently conveying the assumption 
that there was a more or less fixed American 
strain before the Llewellins and Laveracks 
began to cut a figure. It almost goes without 
saying that the " native stock " was simply what 
it happened to be in each of a thousand locali- 
ties. For generations before the Civil War — 
that period coinciding almost exactly with the 
establishment of field trials and regular records 
in England — both setters and pointers had been 
brought over at frequent intervals and had left 
their progeny at different points from Maine 
to Florida, and as far into the interior as enter- 
prising field shots had then penetrated. Men's 

S3 



54 The Sporting Dog 

natural sense of fitness had generally kept set- 
ters separate from pointers in breeding, but had 
carried the breeding science to an extent very 
slightly beyond that point. If a man wished to 
breed setters, he seldom did more than use the best 
stock in the neighborhood. When the Laveracks 
began to come over, and later the Llewellins, 
they were mixed with this neighborhood stock 
to some extent, but were kept distinct when the 
breeders possessed any enlightened aspirations. 
Native stock, with its prevailing liver-and-white 
and its frequent graftings on Irish and black-and- 
tan, can be left out of the story except where 
individual specimens, as in the case of some of 
the Campbell dogs in Tennessee, exercised an 
influence on the blood and families successful in 
public performances. 

In America the authentic history of the Eng- 
lish setter is a history of the Llewellins, with the 
Laveracks appearing constantly in the bench 
shows and always disputing with the Llewellins 
the claim of correct type. 

The first success of Mr. Llewellin's dogs in 
the English field trials at once aroused interest 
and caused importations. Well-informed fan- 
ciers are acquainted with the oft-told story of 
the Llewellin origin. It should be said, by the 
way, that the term, as marking a special strain 
of setters, is not recognized in England. Mr. 



American Llewellins 55 

Llewellin is known there merely as one of a 
large number of gentlemen who have had suc- 
cessful kennels of English setters. The triumphs 
of his entries in the English field trials and the 
attention which imported specimens excited on 
this side led to a strenuous discussion, out of 
which it came about by common understanding 
that the term " Llewellin " should be given to 
the strain in America. It is well to state that 
field trials in England were and are compara- 
tively small events and never had anything 
resembling the relative prestige and influence 
which they have won in America. Mr. Llewel- 
lin, at home a field trial patron among few, is a 
"bigger" man here. 

Let the reader stop here and stick a pin. Let 
him remember that the typical American Llewel- 
lin cannot be understood without comprehending 
that the American type is widely different from 
Mr. Llewellin's ideals and from his own favorite 
dogs. He bred the ancestors, but he did not 
breed the type. This fact means much and 
must be recalled wherever the word " Llewellin " 
is used. 

A brief word on the threadbare subject of 
how Mr. Llewellin produced his English setters. 
For many years before he took up the subject, 
Mr. Laverack's beautiful setters had been the 
centre of attention, and, in spite of the fact that 



56 The Sporting Dog 

they were regarded somewhat doubtfully by 
shooting men, had gradually assumed the first 
place in popular favor. Their most notable 
characteristics were smoothness and symmetry 
of proportion and beautiful, fine, fleecy, straight 
coats, with the aristocratic color of lemon belton 
or blue belton. It was the opinion of Stonehenge 
and most of the English authorities that Mr. 
Laverack's bitches were far superior to his dogs, 
at least in field quality ; the Laverack tendency 
to heavy and thick shoulders being a defect 
more conspicuous on the male side. However 
that may be, the blue belton bitch, Countess, 
and her sister, Nellie, brilliantly distinguished 
themselves both on the bench and at field trials. 
At the same time, Mr. Statter's Dan and his 
brother Dick achieved distinction in the trials. 
Dan was a very large white-black-tan dog, the 
upper part of his body being nearly all black. 
He had been bred by Mr. Statter. His sire was 
Barclay Field's Duke, a black-and-white dog, 
one of the best early winners at trials and de- 
scribed as very fast and extremely intelligent in 
bird work. 

Dan's dam was Mr. Statter's Rhoebe. She 
was not at all a brilliant field performer. Mr. 
Llewellin describes her as " great, big, long, low, 
and heavily built." Mr. Brailsford says that she 
was slow, but that Mr. Statter regarded her 



American Llewellins S7 

highly, chiefly on account of the breeding of 
her dam, Psyche, the latter having come of a 
well-known and highly esteemed strain of setters, 
the Beaudesarts, which had been for the most 
part black in color. Rhoebe, however, had quali- 
ties of some sort which made her a most suc- 
cessful matron. Her sons and daughters were 
winners for several years at the trials. 

Mr. Llewellin bought the Laveracks, Countess 
and Nellie, and the Duke-Rhoebe dogs, Dan and 
Dick. Dan became the progenitor of nearly all 
the first-class American field trial dogs. His 
sister, Dora, was imported into this country by 
Mr. Adams of Boston and left an important line 
of descendants, the most favored and famous of 
which was Druid, imported ahead of Dora and 
owned by Mr. Arnold Burges of Michigan. 
Another son was Drake, owned by Mr. Adams. 

A dog whose name is of consequence chiefly 
because it appears in a great number of pedi- 
grees was Bergundthal's Rake. He was inbred to 
Rhoebe. With Gladstone, Count Noble, Leices- 
ter, and Lincoln, these dogs. Rake and Druid, 
enter into the pedigrees of nearly all the fashion- 
able Llewellin families in America. The six are 
the foundation dogs of the American Llewellin. 
If the student is after essential influences and 
simplest terms, he can throw out all other 
Llewellin importations as minor incidents. 



58 The Sporting Dog 

It will be seen that Mr. Llewellin's dogs were a 
combination of Laverack with the Duke-Rhoebe 
blood. These two foundations of the Llewellin 
kennel differed so widely in characteristics that 
the great variations in the appearance and quality 
of their descendants are not remarkable. The 
Laveracks were usually small or of medium size. 
Rhoebe was very large herself and gave to all her 
progeny a tendency to size. To this day it is the 
case that some Llewellins look like Laveracks 
and some like Dan and his mother. Some do 
not weigh over thirty pounds, while occasional 
specimens run up almost to seventy pounds. If 
we assume that vigor, good sense, and level dis- 
position were the characteristics of the Duke- 
Rhoebes, whereas it is known that the pure 
Laveracks as a rule were not remarkable for 
mental qualities, at least in field work on birds, 
it seems that the irregularities in this respect 
which are noticed in the Llewellins may be at- 
tributed to the two different foundation elements 
used by the originator of the strain. Llewellins 
are sometimes brilliant, sometimes commonplace, 
and sometimes worthless. In the families which 
are bred by active patrons of field trials there is 
of late years a marked tendency to uniformity, 
but the type so suggested is by no means a 
general rule among even dogs bred by these gen- 
tlemen. This type should, however, be described, 



American Llewellins 59 

since it apparently bids fair to attain more or 
less of ascendency. It is represented by such 
dogs as Tony Boy, Marie's Sport, Roderigo, 
Gath, Lady's Count Gladstone, Rodfield, Geneva, 
Sioux, and Mohawk. It is of medium size, com- 
pact body, relatively small and short head as 
compared with the Laveracks, and of harder and 
thinner coat. Many of these dogs, like Glad- 
stone, carry the tail curled upward almost like 
that of a foxhound, though when at active work 
in the field they commonly keep it below the 
level of the back. They are usually characterized 
by intense nervous energy, good speed in the 
field, and a disposition to self-hunt. Breeders are 
endeavoring to increase the size of field trial dogs 
by selecting larger breeding specimens, but it is 
not likely that the average size will much exceed 
fifty pounds for the dogs and five pounds less for 
the bitches. That weight seems to be some- 
where about normal, for what may be called the 
American Llewellin strain, just as the normal 
height seems to be between twenty-two and 
twenty-four inches at the shoulder. 

The qualities which enter into the American 
Llewellins cannot be understood without an ex- 
amination of the leading dogs which enter into 
their pedigrees. 

Beyond comparison the first in importance is 
Gladstone. This remarkable dog was a white- 



6o The Sporting Dog 

black-tan, by Llewellin's Dan out of the lemon- 
and-white Laverack, Petrel. He was imported 
in utero by Mr. Smith of Strathroy, Canada. 
When a small puppy, he was bought by Mr. 
P. H. Bryson of Memphis, Tennessee, and at- 
tained his reputation while in the ownership 
of Mr. Bryson and his brother, Mr. David Bry- 
son. Gladstone won on the bench as well as 
in the field, but it was probably the prestige of 
the dog as well as the somewhat irregular char- 
acter of bench-show entries in those days rather 
than his strict show qualities which gained him 
the ribbons. He weighed a little more than fifty 
pounds and stood twenty-two and a half inches at 
shoulder. In utility points he was a finely built 
dog, quite thick in the shoulder but with superb 
chest and perfect feet and legs. He was very 
strongly made and of exceptional speed and stay- 
ing power. His head was short, the muzzle was 
inclined to be " snipey," and the ears were set 
quite high. These defects of head, as rated by 
bench-show standards, have been persistent in his 
descendants, probably because the same faults 
were more or less inherent in the entire strain as 
well as in Gladstone himself. Under the old 
field trial rules in force when Gladstone first 
appeared in public, he was several times defeated. 
At that time competition was judged by the 
number of stanch points made by a dog, and it 



American Llewellins 6i 

consequently happened that an inferior dog with 
good luck or a good handler could often beat the 
most brilliant. In spite of an occasional defeat, 
Gladstone was regarded by all good judges as the 
best young setter ever seen in the United States. 
His bold and brilliant character, positive, snappy 
bird work and flawless courage gathered him a 
host of admirers the whole length of the Missis- 
sippi Valley and spread his reputation across the 
ocean. 

Counted as a factor of importance in the 
production of the American Llewellins, Count 
Noble must be ranked next to Gladstone. He 
was a large white-black-tan dog, long in the 
body and not considered a well-proportioned 
setter. He weighed sixty pounds. This dog 
was imported by David Sanborn of Baltimore 
from the Llewellin kennel, and owned by him up 
to the time of Mr. Sanborn's death when he 
passed into the possession of B. F. Wilson of 
Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. He was by Mr. Llewel- 
lin's favorite. Count Wind'em, and his dam was 
Nora, by Dan out of Nellie. He was thus in- 
bred to Dan, though the major portion of his 
blood was Laverack, his sire, Count Wind'em, 
being three-quarters Laverack. Like Gladstone, 
he forced himself on public attention by the suc- 
cessful brilliancy of his public performances. He 
was a dog of great speed and wonderful endur- 



62 The Sporting Dog 

ance, particularly good on prairie chicken and 
able to hold his own in any company on any 
game. 

Druid was a good-sized dog and much hand- 
somer than the average Llewellin. His propor- 
tions were good and his color very attractive — 
a finely marked head and heavily ticked body. 
The shape of his head and the set of his ears 
were better than those points in Gladstone and 
other prominent Llewellin dogs. His tail, how- 
ever, like those of his mother, Dora, and his 
close relative, Gladstone, curled upward and was 
carried high. Druid was a dog entirely differ- 
ent from Count Noble and Gladstone in dis- 
position. He was by no means a brilliant field 
performer, but was a good bird dog. He inherited 
Dora's amiable and tractable disposition, and it is 
very likely that he exercised valuable influence 
in modifying the headlong and often reckless 
tendency of Gladstone blood. Certainly he must 
be credited with improving the appearance of 
the Llewellins as bench-show candidates. His 
daughter, General Shattuc's Dido H, was a 
bench-show champion of her day, and her son, 
Cincinnatus, was also a bench-show champion as 
well as a placed dog in some of the important 
field trials. Dido was also the dam of the bench 
champion. Dad Wilson. 

Leicester was imported from Mr. Llewellin's 



American Llewellins 63 

kennel. He was a lemon-and-white, by Dan out 
of the Laverack, Lill II. It is said that he was 
not trained for the field to any great extent, 
although shot over some. He was a beautifully 
formed dog, and, perhaps, the fastest of his day 
as a mere matter of speed. He had, however, a 
nervous disposition and apparently was easily 
rattled, though not much was ever said about his 
actual field quality. He was chiefly famous on 
account of the success of his daughters when bred 
to Druid, Rake, Gladstone, and other well-known 
sires. His brother Lincoln was, judging from 
the annals of those days, a much better dog than 
Leicester. He was also lemon-and-white, stylish 
in the field, and rated as a first-class bird dog. 
His influence on American pedigrees comes 
chiefly through his son. Gleam, a dog which in- 
herited most of his characteristics and probably 
some additional qualities from the beautiful 
Countess Bear, another lemon-and-white, the 
dam of Blaze, Gleam's mother. Gleam was a 
very large, rough, orange-and-white of great 
field quality. He comes into modern pedigrees 
through his daughters, Daisy F. and Georgia 
Belle. The former, herself half Llewellin and 
half Campbell, was the dam of Daisy Hope and 
Daisy Hunter; and Georgia Belle produced the 
phenomenal litter which included Gleam's Sport, 
Gleam's Pink, Maiden Mine, and Spot Cash, all 



64 The Sporting Dog 

of which were field trial performers of unsur- 
passed natural quality. Gleam's Sport became 
the sire of Marie's Sport; Gleam's Pink sired 
Pink's Boy; Spot Cash sired Spot's Girl; and 
Maiden Mine became the dam of some good 
performers. Naturally the lemon-and-white color 
appears often in the Gleam line. Marse Ben, 
white-black-tan, is a dog also likely to perpetuate 
the Gleam blood, which comes to him through 
Almo, brother of Georgia Belle, and through 
Mecca, she by Gleam out of Tuberose. 

Bergundthal's Rake is a name which figures in 
the early generations of a great majority of the 
American Llewellin pedigrees. At one time he 
was widely discussed on account of the large 
amount of Rhoebe blood which he carried. He 
came from Mr. Llewellin's kennel and was by 
Dan, son of Rhoebe, out of Ruby, daughter of 
Rhoebe. Ruby's sire was the Laverack Fred. 
Rake's blood was believed by many authorities 
to be extremely valuable and suitable for per- 
petuation as the proper cross for dogs having a 
preponderance of Laverack blood. Individually 
he was not an attractive dog in any respect ex- 
cept that he was large and powerful, with par- 
ticularly strong bone. He was white-black-tan, 
nearly all black, rough, and coarse-looking, and 
without any of the fancy bench-show points. 
Just what his field qualities were I have been a 



American Llewellins 65 

little perplexed to discover. In those days there 
was a sort of freemasonry among the experts. 
They seemed to regard it as somewhat non- 
ethical to speak to outsiders of the faults of 
prominent dogs. All of them mentioned Rake's 
field qualities with reservation. Mr. A. C. Wad- 
dell once told me that he had charge of Rake for 
a time and that, while the dog had considerable 
speed and disposition to hunt, there was a lack of 
nose. Mr. P. T. Madison described the dog to 
me as having plenty of nose, but not much judg- 
ment in the use of it ; intimating that he was a 
difficult dog to make serviceable in the field. He 
appears in modern pedigrees largely through his 
daughters out of Bergundthal's Fanny, a daughter 
of Leicester and Dart, Dart being a sister of Druid. 
From this source he comes into the modern stock 
through Major Taylor's famous Lit, Lit's sister, 
Bopeep, Bryson's Sue, Ruby's Girl, and others. 
In the direct male line there is not much to per- 
petuate Rake's erstwhile reputation. In a chapter 
on breeding I shall refer to an interesting experi- 
ment by Dr. Stark of Milwaukee, who by inbreed- 
ing to Rake concentrated a remarkable number 
of lines of Rhoebe. This experiment did not 
result successfully and cuts little figure among 
the later Llewellins. 

Going back for a moment to Mr. Llewellin's 
kennel, there is a name which must be mentioned, 



66 The Sporting Dog 

though the disposition for several years both in 
America and England has been to breed away 
from the influence. Llewellin's Dash II, some- 
times called Armstrong's and sometimes Brewis's 
Dash, was a great public performer in England, 
becoming particularly conspicuous on account of 
his competitions with the speediest setter of that 
day, Macdona's Ranger. Dash II was a white- 
black-tan of powerful build, by the Laverack, 
Prince, out of Kate. His granddam, Armstrong's 
Kate, stands on the records as being a sister of 
Field's Duke, but, as I have elsewhere said, Mr. 
Buckell seems to have no faith in the breeding 
as thus given. Dash differed in form and char- 
acter from the majority of Mr. Llewellin's dogs. 
He became the sire of Dashing Bondhu and 
other successful performers in Mr. Llewellin's 
kennel. Mr. Buckell seems to think that he 
introduced into the Llewellin blood additional 
intelligence but diminished brilliancy and aggres- 
siveness. In the American studbooks Dash II 
is represented by Dashing Monarch and others. 
Dashing Monarch was probably very much like 
his sire — a strong, stoutly built dog, altogether 
too heavy and meaty in front to suit American 
breeders, but a more or less successful sire. For 
a time I owned his daughter, Dashing Lavellette, 
and I can believe that she stood for much of the 
Dash influence. She was a handsome setter, 



American Llewellins 67 

black, white and ticked, with a finely shaped head, 
but one which would have been heavy even in 
a dog. She had a big chest and was wide in 
front. Her speed and range were far below 
American field trial demands, but she was a most 
industrious bird hunter, with exquisite nose, and 
a very agreeable dog to work in close cover. I 
have some of her descendants now, but her own 
physical characteristics entirely disappeared with 
herself. 

John Bolus's Belton was a dog which w^as the 
subject of a debate during his lifetime. He was 
a Llewellin and not a Llewellin, being of blood 
lines similar to those of the Llewellins but having 
come from another kennel. He was finally ad- 
mitted as a straight-bred Llewellin. He was 
a white-black-tan dog of superior field quality 
and good looks, somewhat heavier than Glad- 
stone, but not a large dog. He does not appear 
in a great many pedigrees, but was an ancestor of 
dogs like Topsy's Rod, Harwick, Mohawk, and 
Marie's Sport. 

Before proceeding farther with the Llewellins 
it might be well to introduce here a mention of 
the Campbells, a family of short existence in both 
directions, which received its name because the 
Messrs. Campbell of Tennessee happened to own 
the leading specimens at the time when field trials 
first began. The origin of these dogs seems to 



68 The Sporting Dog 

have been located in the black setter, called Ma- 
son's Jeff, and thelemon-and-white Old Fannie; 
which were said to have had the fine coat and 
general appearance of the Laveracks, though no 
one has ever found out much beyond that fact. 
Campbell's Buck Jr. and Joe Jr. attained national 
fame in defeating Gladstone and other celebrated 
Llewellins. Joe Jr. was a half-bred setter, being 
out of Buck Jr. by the noted Irish setter, Elcho. 
He defeated Gladstone in a match race under the 
old rules ; the race having been arranged by the 
late Mr. W. A. Wheatley of Memphis and the Bry- 
sons. Joe Jr. either was not a successful sire or 
his blood became unfashionable on account of its 
being a cross. The Campbell line is perpetuated 
chiefly through Daisy F. and her daughters, Daisy 
Hope and Daisy Hunter. Daisy Hunter espe- 
cially was successful in giving her name a promi- 
nent position in the studbook. Through her the 
Campbell blood has appeared in winners like 
Count Hunter, Seven-Up, and Vic's Vic. 

While on the subject of contests between 
Llewellins and " natives " the other great match 
race, that between the Llewellin, Lit, and the 
more plebeian Grousedale, may have a glance. 
This was a three-days' race run in cold and dis- 
agreeable weather, in which Lit overwhelmingly 
defeated her rival. 

The first field trial setter to lay the foundation 



American Llewellins 69 

of a debate in regard to changing the bench-show 
standard was Gath. This pet of the field trial 
men was by Count Noble out of the Gladstone- 
Leicester-Dart bitch, Peep o' Day. He was a de- 
parture from most of the ideals previously held 
on both sides of the water. He was of light and 
fine structure, and his action is said to have been 
as easy and frictionless as that of a fox. He died 
young, but made a remarkable impression, not 
only on the memories of sportsmen but on the 
Llewellin strain. He sired out of the Gladstone 
bitch, Gem, a prized litter of which Gath's Mark, 
Gath's Hope, and Harold were the best. Through 
the first two Gath's blood lives in the veins of a 
vast number of high-class dogs to-day. Gath's 
Mark was a white-black-tan dog of medium size, 
not handsome but of most sterling character. 
After having been retired for some years he came 
out when he was, I think, six years old and won 
the championship stake. His brother, Gath's 
Hope, was one of the largest Llewellins ever bred 
in this country, standing about twenty-seven 
inches at the shoulder. He was lemon-and-white. 
Partly because of his color and partly because he 
was believed to be soft, he was little bred to for a 
time, but after Daisy Hope and Daisy Hunter, 
his daughters, appeared, he became fashionable. 
One of his daughters was the dam of Champion 
Rodfield. 



70 The Sporting Dog 

In connection with Gath there may be usefully 
grouped a succession of dogs which deserve 
special attention, on account not only of their 
brilliant success in public trials and their promi- 
nence in later-day pedigrees, but of their peculiar 
character. These dogs are Roderigo, Count 
Gladstone IV, and Mohawk. The type is what 
some breeders would call feminine. Mohawk, the 
latest high-class specimen of the type, is also its 
extreme. It would be injustice to leave the im- 
pression that such dogs are feminine in the sense 
of being effeminate. The word is used to indicate 
that they are of rather small size, sensitive to in- 
fluences, easily affected by harsh treatment, and 
generally of fine, rather than powerful, character. 
They require encouragement rather than restraint 
in their training, though enthusiastic, wide, and 
persistent searchers when at work. 

Roderigo was a white-black-tan dog, strongly 
marked, weighing not much more than forty-five 
pounds and of good structural points. His head, 
shoulders, and foreparts generally were regarded 
by many experts as ideal. His loin and quarters 
were rather narrow and not in proportion to 
his front. When first brought out in public, 
he was a little too cautious in his bird work, but 
subsequently developed great speed, range, and 
finding quality. As all setter men know, he was 
the greatest sire of his time. Most of the field 




LLEWELLIN. FIELD-TRIAL TYPE 

Charity. White-black-tan. By Tony Boy-Lena Belle. Owner, Mr. Pierre Loril- 
lard, New York. An exceptionally brilliant performer. Since the death of Geneva, 
her sister, severe field-trial critics say that Charity is one of the two really first- 
rate female field-trial dogs in America, the other being Sport's Maid, owned by 
Mr. Henry, of Butler, Missouri. By " first rate " these critics mean that these two alone 
have in the highest form the qualities of speed, decisive bird work, and gameness 
under all conditions of heat or cold, rain or shine. Peach Blossom and Annie B. are 
candidates for admission to this select group. 




LLEWELLIN. LIGHT WEIGHT. FIELD-TRIAL TYPE 

Geneva. Field-trial champion (1903\ National Championship Club. Now dead. 
White-black-tan. By Tony Boy-Lena Belle. Winner in Derby and all age form. 
Probably the highest in field class of her sex bred in America. Weight, forty pounds. 
Breeder and owner, Mr. Pierre Lorillard, New York. Great speed, range, and 
endurance. 



American Llewellins 71 

trial setters of to-day trace to him in one or more 
lines. His best son in the field and as a sire was 
Antonio, the sire of Rodfield, Tony Boy, and a 
number of other dogs which have no superiors in 
public esteem. 

Champion Count Gladstone IV, as were the 
other dogs of this group, was bred almost exactly 
like Roderigo, being by Count Noble out of a 
Gladstone-Druid dam. He was a white-black- 
tan dog, but nearly all white. He was even 
worse than Roderigo in the quality of his bird 
work in his early days, a trouble which seems to 
have been caused partly by a period of harsh 
treatment which he suffered when a puppy. He 
afterward developed into the foremost field trial 
winner of his time and succeeded Roderigo in 
the position of the greatest sire. Late in life he 
was purchased by a kennel in California conducted 
under the patronage of Mrs. Senator Hearst. He 
was equally successful in his last home. The 
number of performers sired by this dog was phe- 
nomenal. From Dan's Lady alone he produced 
Champion Lady's Count Gladstone, Lady's Count, 
Dave Earl, Count Danstone, and Albert Lang. 
From Hester Prynne he got Sioux, Lady Rachel, 
and Prime Minister. 

Mohawk, the latest great dog of this type, has 
blood lines essentially the same. His sire, Tony 
Boy, is inbred to Roderigo, and his dam, Countess 



72 The Sporting Dog 

Meteor, is by Count Gladstone IV out of a daughter 
of Roderigo. Mohawk is a small but thoroughly 
well-built and symmetrical dog of the white-black- 
tan color, chiefly white. In his Derby year he 
was regarded by many as the highest class puppy 
ever run in America. In his second season his 
bird work suffered from some cause, and he did 
not quite confirm the early impression. In his 
third year he has redeemed his reputation and is, 
in the autumn of 1903, the first of living setters 
by the records. He has perfect action, great speed, 
and a wider range than most sportsmen would care 
to follow. His work on birds, though not pot- 
tering, is catlike rather than bold and positive. 
Under Mr. Whitford he won bench honors at 
Chicago in the spring of 1903. 

From the famous cross of Gladstone with Bry- 
son's Sue came a number of dogs which stand as 
milestones in the studbooks. Gladstone's Boy 
was, perhaps, all things considered, the best indi- 
vidual. He was a very large dog of sufficient 
speed and exceptionally intelligent bird work. He 
was the sire of a number of successful public per- 
formers, among them, Fanny Murnan, Lora, and 
Miss Ruby. His blood appears to be especially 
successful through his daughters. Of entirely 
different type from Gladstone's Boy was Dan 
Gladstone, a rather small and compact dog, con- 
sidered a close resemblance to his sire. He was 



American LlewelUns 73 

a fairly good but not great performer in the trials 
and was a success in the stud. Sportsman was a 
very large dog of this cross and had no little pre- 
tension to bench-show excellence. He was taken 
to California and became prominent in the breed- 
ing ranks of that state. Breeze Gladstone was 
the most successful of the cross on the bench. 
He was a strongly marked white-black-tan, of size 
rather above the average, and was smoother in 
conformation and much better in head than most 
dogs of his breeding. 

Paul Gladstone may be mentioned in connec- 
tion with Bohemian Girl, the latter being the 
mother of his best progeny. Paul was a small, 
cobby, white-black-tan dog of fair field trial 
form. He was an almost unchallenged bench 
winner for two or three years. He was by no 
means without faults, however, and I think would 
hardly rank high on the bench if he were alive 
to-day. His head was too short and, for the char- 
acter of his muzzle, too thick. 

Bohemian Girl was possibly the best daughter 
of Count Noble. She was a large and rangy 
black-and-white, with a slashing way of going 
and admittedly the best field setter of her sex at 
the time. In her public running she was owned 
by Mr. Walter Mellier of Kansas City, but was 
sold by him for ^1000 to Mr. Shelley Hudson of 
Kentucky. Bred to Paul Gladstone, Bohemian 



74 The Sporting Dog 

Girl became the mother of Paul Bo, owned by 
Mr. Richard Merrill of Milwaukee. Paul Bo 
excited the enthusiasm of setter men by his phe- 
nomenal speed and handsome appearance. He 
inherited much of his mother's size and rangi- 
ness, with his sire's good looks and quality. He 
had a white-black-tan head with heavily ticked 
white body. 

There would be an interest in describing all 
the notable individuals of the Roderigo-Bopeep 
family, among them Orlando, Bettye S., and 
Chance. Space, however, limits the description 
to Antonio, the most notable and successful. 
Antonio was a handsome and heavily marked 
white-black-tan of good size. He had an excel- 
lent head, exceptionally good shoulders and legs, 
and generally attractive appearance. He was 
one of the best bird finders of the Roderigo-Bo- 
peep family and probably had stamina and ability 
to sustain speed to an extent not surpassed by any 
dog that ever ran before the public. Through 
Tony Boy and Rodfield his blood is at the top 
of the present fashion among field trial pa- 
trons. 

No account of American setters would be quite 
complete without a mention of Mingo, the son of 
Druid. He was a favorite among Canadian setter 
breeders for years, and his blood still counts for 
much in approved pedigrees. He was nearer the 



American LlewelUns 75 

early bench standards than most Llewellins and 
of more than average performing ability in the 
field. His sons and daughters were generally 
good looking and almost invariably admirable 
shooting dogs. 

Mr. Dager of Toledo, Ohio, had a career as a 
setter owner which if not long was at least brill- 
iant. He bought the two puppies, Cincinnatus 
and Toledo Blade, in Tennessee under, I believe, 
the advice of Major Taylor. Both of these 
dogs were white-black-tan and of superior bench 
type. Toledo Blade looked much like his sire, 
Roderigo, and was one of the best field trial dogs 
of a time of good ones. Cincinnatus was not 
highly regarded by field trial men, but was placed 
in good company. On the bench Cincinnatus 
quickly won a championship. Under judges who 
favored a rangy type he was invincible. In ap- 
pearance this dog was an exaggeration of what 
might be called the Druid shape. His skull and 
muzzle were almost abnormally long but were 
correctly formed. He was rather flat in chest 
and weak in back ribs, but was otherwise good 
and a remarkably refined specimen among large 
dogs. From the successful show setter, Albert's 
Nellie, largely Laverack in blood, he produced the 
magnificent field performer and bench winner, 
Cincinnatus's Pride. Pride is somewhat like his sire 
without the extreme points. In all around quality 



76 The Sporting Dog 

he is the best dog shown in years, and promises 
to Hve for many generations in the success of his 
descendants. 

Considered from the field trial standpoint alone, 
the most successful of sires living at this writ- 
ing is Tony Boy, a light-weight white-black-tan 
by Antonio out of a dam by Roi d'Or, a full 
brother of Antonio. In stamina and endurance 
at high speed Tony Boy ranked first during the 
years of his public competition. In the stud he 
has sired Champion Geneva, Mohawk, Clyde, 
Tony Man, Sport McAllister, Pretti Sing, and an 
astonishing number of other first-rate performers, 
when it is remembered that for several years after 
being retired he was not much used as a stud dog. 

Champion Rodfield was owned by the late 
P. T. Madison of Indianapolis, whose friendly re- 
lations with field trial men extended all over the 
country. Rodfield was, therefore, a fashionable 
sire from his first season. His sons and dausfh- 

o 

ters were quickly scattered over the entire United 
States and Canada. He has the distinction of 
having been considered nearer than any other 
Llewellin to Gladstone in appearance and style of 
work. He was a white-black-tan of sufficient 
outward quality to win a championship on the 
bench, though this honor was not achieved in first- 
rate company. His blood lines were of the best; 
being by Antonio out of a dam by Gath's Hope. 



American LlewelUns 77 

Other sons of Antonio which are suggested by 
the mention of Tony Boy and Rodfield are Cham- 
pion Joe Gumming and Champion Tony's Gale, 
both dogs of the usual Llewellin color and superb 
field abilities. Dash Antonio was the equal of 
either, though less distinguished. 

Among the dogs descended from the Gleam 
side of the Llewellin house one of the best was 
the lemon-and-white Gleam's Sport. In actual 
ranging and finding ability he was regarded as 
the foremost dog of two seasons. At that time, 
however, his color was less respected than it is 
now and, like many of the Gleams, he had very 
little of merry style in the field. Dogs were 
placed over him in the trials which did not equal 
him in solid work but surpassed him in attractive- 
ness of style. His son, Marie's Sport, long the 
property of Judge H. B. Ledbetterof Farmington, 
Missouri, was also a little unfortunate in getting 
somewhat less than the best of it from the field 
trial judges. Yet, since he got considerably more 
than justice on the bench, his supporters had no 
right to complain. Marie's Sport was white- 
black-tan, one side of his head being white. He 
was a powerful dog of medium size, and game 
to the last degree. His success in the stud was 
remarkable from the first. His sons and daugh- 
ters include the winners, Sport's Gath, Sport's 
Belle, Champion Sport's Boy, Sport's Solomon, 



78 The Sporting Dog 

Prince Lyndon, Sport's Destiny, and Sport's 
Lady. Almost without exception he gave the 
quality of resolute, indefatigable hunting ability, 
with accurate nose and stanch point work. 
Judging from the past year or two, it is likely 
that his daughters will be among the most suc- 
cessful matrons in Llewellin kennels. 

A clever rather than great son of Rodfield out 
of a Marie's Sport dam is the orange-and-white 
Rodfield's Pride (Cowley's). He was a high-class 
winner throughout the fall of 1902, and wound up 
as second to the pointer, Percival Jingo, in the 
Interstate Championship stake. In the winter 
trials he had gone out of condition and did not 
show so well. His size is smallish and his bench 
quality not more than ordinary. In the field he 
is stylish and attractive. 

Some judges would say that in strict class 
Colonel R. is the best setter that ever ran in pub- 
lic. In five starts he won two Derbies and two of 
the principal all-age stakes. In each of his win- 
ning trials the reports say that he distinctly and 
obviously outclassed his competitors, and that the 
judges did not hesitate a moment in placing him 
first. He is a white-black-tan dog of medium 
weight and rather light construction. His dam. 
Trap Jr., lemon-and- white, is, perhaps, the only 
prominent English setter which carries the blood 
of the Ethan Allen strain, well known in Connec- 



American Llewellins 79 

ticut a quarter of a century or more ago. She 
was a field trial winner herself. Mr. Edwards of 
Cleveland, the owner of Calonel R., also has in his 
kennel Uncle B., a son of Harwick and Dan's 
Lady. Uncle B. probably participated in more 
field trials than any dog that ever lived, and was 
always dangerous. He was not quite first class 
in brilliancy, but was a determined goer, and won 
more than once against strong competition. In 
the stud Uncle B. is making a record. In the fall 
of 1903 his youngsters have shown better than 
those of any other setter sire. 

Oakley Hill was the great Derby winner of his 
season in the central West. He was afterward 
shown on the bench and, except in head, was con- 
sidered by good judges one of the best modern 
specimens of the Llewellins. He is a handsome 
white-black-tan of medium size and compact shape. 
He is a dog of intense force and courage, and is 
already prominent as a sire. Veteran field trial 
followers insist that his style at work was Glad- 
stone's over again. 

Lady's Count Gladstone is a dog much like 
Oakley Hill in color and conformation. He is 
the premier of the Count Gladstone IV-Dan's 
Lady family. He won his field trial champion- 
ship after a comparatively short experience and 
against the pick of the country. 

Among the young dogs one of the most notable 



8o The Sporting Dog 

is Marse Ben, not only because he is a good dog, 
but because of his strong infusion of Gleam blood, 
his dam, Mecca II, being inbred to Gleam. His 
sire, Domoko, was a field trial performer, but not 
a winner, by Antonio. Marse Ben is a strongly 
marked dog, above the usual size, and of well- 
knit, muscular physique and of essentially rugged, 
masculine type. He was in the field just a little 
short of first-rate speed as compared, for instance, 
with his competitor, Mohawk, but his bird work 
was astonishingly clever in most of his trials. 
He beat Mohawk at their first meeting. On the 
bench he would hardly be considered. 

Prince Rodney is a young dog not unlike Marse 
Ben in appearance but better looking. He is a 
dog of great class, having both speed and nose. 
He was placed in some of the state trials in his 
Derby year and showed even better in his all-age 
form. He may be called the chief of the Lady's 
Count Gladstone-Jessie Rodfield family. Rodney's 
full brother. Count Whitestone, has been called 
the most stylish and graceful setter in the field 
among those seen in public since the state trials 
were inaugurated. 

Before the story of the Llewellin individuals is 
concluded, a word should be said of Dashing 
Dixie, the winner of the Indiana all-age stake of 
1889. She was owned by Judge Guinotte of 
Kansas City, and was a sweet and handsome as 



I 




LLEWELLIN. LIGHT WEIGHT 

Champion Peach Blossom. By Count Gladstone IV-Peach Mark. Her dam, 
Peach Mark, herself the best California setter of her year, was a granddaughter of 
imported Dick Bondhu and of Gath's Mark. Peach Blossom weighs thirty-five pounds, 
is very fast, stylish, and clever on birds. After beating the best dogs in California, she 
came East and won the Illinois Club's championship, November, 1903. She is an 
important study in Llewellin setters because she is the most typical living repre- 
sentative of the Count Gladstone IV blood : and because she represents in its extreme 
form the small, compact, high-strung field-trial Llewellin which has been for years a 
subject of controversy among the setter men. In the kennel she is an affectionate pet, 
vivacious and intelligent. In the field she is dashing and brilliant. Her peculiar car- 
riage of tail on point is shown in the photograph, taken by the author. Her owner is 
Mr. W. W. Van Arsdale, Bakersfield, California. 




LLEWELLIN. GLEAM TYPE 

Prince Lyndon. By Marie's Sport-West Wind by Roderigo- White-black-tan. 
Performed the remarkable feat of coming out in 1903 at seven years old, after several 
seasons as a shooting dog, and winning first in public trials on chicken, beating noted 
winners. Shows the prepotent Gleamcharacteristicof rugged, aggressive bird-finding. 
Photograph bad in foreshortening, but good of the dog's front. Taken when two 
years old. Lyndon's weight is about fifty-five pounds. Bred and owned by Dr. W. G. 
Moore, St. Louis. Missouri. The position of the dog here shows the fashion of tug- 
ging on the lead, which is encouraged by many field-trial handlers to promote eager- 
ness, quickness, and dash in the breakaway when cast off in public competition. 



American Llewellins 8i 

well as high-class setter, being black, white, and 
belton. She deserves special mention on account 
of her pedigree. She was inbred to the Dash 
blood, being a granddaughter of both Dash II and 
his full brother. Dash III. After being retired 
she was bred to Roderigo, and her two sons, Dixie's 
Rod and Cap Tough, have both left descendants 
of note. 

Two peculiarities of Marie's Sport bid fair to 
live long and crop out often in his descendants. 
He had an odd tail — long, ropy, and carried ex- 
tremely high over his back with a sidewise twist. 
His coat was harsh and rough. These two points 
appear in his celebrated son, Sport's Boy, the 
lemon-and-white winner of the first Interstate 
Champion stake. Boy is a small dog, but built 
like a steel machine. He is so good in utility 
points of construction that Mr. Davidson, usually 
a stickler for quality, placed him above some re- 
spectable winners on the bench. He has his sire's 
long and poorly feathered tail and roughish tex- 
ture of coat. In speed he rates with the best, and 
when he is right, his endurance and bird work are 
unsurpassed. 

It has happened that the best four sons of 
Marie's Sport have belonged to four of my per- 
sonal friends; Sport's Gath to Mr. Charles A. 
Robinson, Sport's Boy to Mr. Charles B. Cooke, 
Sport's Solomon to Judge Ledbetter, and Prince 



82 The Sporting Dog 

Lyndon to Dr. W. G. Moore. The remarkable 
prepotency of the Gleam blood is seen in all four 
of these dogs. The peculiar determination of 
their bird hunting is different in style from the 
Count Noble and Gladstone way of going — dif- 
ferent but not necessarily better — and betrays 
the Gleam influence. Prince Lyndon, in my 
judgment, is decidedly the best dog of the four 
in the most desirable elements of setter quality, 
though the least meteoric. He has for years been 
one of my favorites, — ever since I saw him, when 
just grown, become in a day the king of the ken- 
nel among thirty dogs he had never seen before. 
And he was not quarrelsome, only masterful. 
When this season, after having been used as a 
shooting dog all his life, he came out, seven years 
old, and won first place on prairie chicken against 
an array which included Captain Jack, Alford's 
John, Lad of Jingo, and Sure Shot, I could not 
have found more pleasure in the rare feat if he 
had been mine. For he is a genuine dog. He 
is of good color, of the right size, strong without 
coarseness, excellent in bench type, and better 
than all, of bold, cheerful and independent char- 
acter. As I write, he is the latest Llewellin celeb- 
rity, and I doubt whether there has ever been a 
Llewellin celebrity more satisfying to the disinter- 
ested sportsman. The setter which has surpassed 
him in the chicken trials of 1903, McKinley, is a 



American Llewellins 83 

much younger dog with better field trial opportu- 
nities. McKinley is a real dog, too, and is entitled 
to all respect. He continues the blood of two great 
Llewellin winners. Count Gladstone IV and Lil- 
lian Russell, but is what the faddists call " cold " 
on his dam's side. He is a well bred English 
setter, but not a "pure" Llewellin — the worse 
for the " pures." 

He resembles Rodfield closely in style, size, 
form, and marking. One would say that, with 
his bench form and blood lines, he is due to be 
a great setter sire. It is an additional pleasure to 
the sportsman to see that Mr. Duryea's Mohawk, 
after his special style another true bird dog 
whose reputation is no accident, subdued his 
brilliancy of wide ranging long enough to win 
the championship on chicken — that of the Mani- 
toba Club. Mohawk has also beaten the first- 
raters in some of the autumn quail trials, and has, 
in 1903, the admitted best among field trial 
setters' records as to class. All three of these 
Llewellins are fit to prolong the race of English 
setters. 



CHAPTER VI 

LAVERACKS IN AMERICA 

Purists who love exactitudes say that there are 
few real Lave racks now living. Two or three 
investigators have, with a flourish, brought out 
from obscurity specimens which come down with- 
out outside cross from the Laverack kennel and, 
according to the Laverack creed, straight from 
Ponto and Old Moll. Broadly speaking, all this 
is an error likely to lead to confusion ; just as an 
attempt to narrow the definition of Llewellin 
threatens the same result. Mo.st of the modern 
bench-show Laveracks have such an overwhelm- 
ing preponderance of straight Laverack blood 
and have been so carefully bred for type that it 
would be an error to call them by any other name. 
^ all truth they are more highly perfected Laver- 
c .s than anything Mr. Laverack himself ever 
bred. As in the case of the Llewellin, I shall 
give to such dogs the name to which they are 
entitled by their type and essential blood lines. 

Even Mr. Laverack's harshest critics, Dr. Walsh 
(Stonehenge) and Rev. Mr. Pierce (Idstone), ad- 
mitted that his dogs had high quality, uniformity 

84 



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MODERN LAVERACK 

Ulverstone Rap (imported^ Owner, Mr. George C. Thomas, Jr., Philadelphia. 
Winner in the later spring shows of 1903. Held by Laverack specialists to be the 
most typical Laverack shown for years. Beaten in the fall at Ladies' Kennel Associa- 
tion and Brooklyn fall shows by Mallwyd Bang and Lingfield Bragg, both Laveracks, 
but still regarded by expert judges as better than either in head and general symmetry. 
Schreiber's photograph shows clearly this dog"s rarely chiselled muzzle and skull and 
well-balanced conformation. Compare his head, feather and carriage of tail with those 
points in the Llewellins, Colonel R. and Rodfield's Pride. The difference of type will 
be at once plain. 




MODERN LAVERACK 

Champion Mallwyd Sirdar (imported). Owner, Mr. George C. Thomas, Jr., 
Philadelphia. Exceptionally fine action for bench show. Laverack of a type admired by 
both fanciers and shooting men. Sirdar has an advantage over most Laveracks in 
free, strong movement. He has already sired a free-going young Laverack in Ai 'Crt's 
Sirdar, an-i several really good field dogs from Llewellin dams. If any Laverack 
crosses well with American Llewellins, it will probably be Mallwyd Sirdar. 



Laveracks in America 85 

of appearance, and abundant pointing tendency. 
They also gave the females, at least, credit for 
good speed and action. The fault which Stone- 
henge particularly noted in the Laveracks seemed 
in nearly all cases to turn up again in this country. 
These dogs had not the hunting versatility, deci- 
sion, and resourcefulness which mark field per- 
formers of the first rank. 

Most of the notable importations of Laveracks 
in the '70's were made with reference to crossing 
on the Llewellin stock after Mr. Llewellin's own 
example. Mr. L. H. Smith of Canada brought 
over several and reported in the public prints of 
the time that they were satisfactory in speed and 
hunting instinct, but of little value as shooting 
dogs. Since Mr. Llewellin always said the same 
thing of Phantom, Lill, and the other Laverack 
bitches from which he bred after succeeding with 
Countess and Nellie, there seems to be not much 
to say in favor of the value of the pure Laverack 
dogs of that time on either American or English 
game. Petrel, Peeress, Victress, and others of 
Mr. Smith's kennel came under the verdict which 
was rendered in England against Phantom and 
Lill. Yet in both countries these bitches, of small 
value in the field, produced great bird dogs. And 
the modern Laveracks are generally fair shooting 
dogs. 

Laveracks in America are most important from 



86 The Sporting Dog 

two standpoints : first, their bearing as a factor in 
the Llewellin blood ; second, their record on the 
show benches. The first need not be mentioned 
here, since It Is part of the Llewellin history. 

On the bench the Laveracks have had In this 
country, as in England, the favor of all the judges 
who are sticklers for " fancy." Mr. John David- 
son, one of the most popular of American bench- 
show judges, said to me once that It is impossible 
to judge a setter without considering primarily 
head, coat, and stern. Those, he said, were the 
points which made a setter different from other 
dogs. " Any mongrel," he continued, " can have 
good chest, shoulders, feet, and legs, but If a dog 
has not a setter coat, he Is not a setter." Mr. 
Davidson probably expressed the general thought 
which has governed the long line of judges In 
both countries who have maintained the suprem- 
acy of the Laverack type on the benches. It was 
difficult for a judge of the old days to set aside a 
dog like Thunder in favor of a setter of inferior 
quality; as In our time few of them can ignore 
Mallwyd Sirdar. 

Since there is no dispute about the Laverack 
type and very little about Its breeding, the story 
in America is soon told, though It has an interest 
in many directions. In the field the Laveracks 
have been more used and more useful than the 
public records would Indicate. Especially in 



Lavemcks in America 87 

New England they have been highly regarded 
by many good sportsmen and seemed to make 
agreeable shooting companions. In the West 
and South, on the other hand, they have not 
been favored. 

Of the modern Laveracks, the beautiful dogs 
shown for several years by Mr. Windholz of New 
York may be taken as the beginning. In 1889 
he showed Champion Rockingham, Champion 
Count Howard, and Champion Cora of Wetheral, 
and it was a beautiful exhibition. Rockingham 
was a blue belton of good show points in all 
respects, as his long list of successes indicates. 
Count Howard was a much larger dog of the 
same color. His skull was rather too large and 
heavy even for his size, and his lip deep to the 
point of looseness. Mr. Windholz also bred a 
handsome one in Princess Beatrice. 

About the same time Royal Prince II was 
shown in competition with the Windholz dogs. 
He was a more compact and smoothly turned 
specimen of the blue belton color. In the years 
following, the Laverack type was conspicuous in 
Champion Sheldon, Champion Gilhooley, Cham- 
pion Highland Fleet, all bred on this side, and 
others well known to fanciers. 

It is likely that Monk of Furness was, taking 
the country over, used in the stud more than any 
other of the imported Laveracks. He was almost 



88 The Sporting Dog 

entirely white, the markings being very shght. 
He was a dog of beautiful head and general con- 
tour, rather stiff and stilty in his action. A great 
many of his descendants, now amalgamated with 
the Llewellins, are to be found through the West. 

Highland Fleet made more admirers among 
the Llewellin men than most Laveracks. He was 
an orange belton of medium size and neatly 
turned ; having an appearance and action which 
suggested travelling ability. Several gentlemen 
who shot over him spoke highly of his field qual- 
ities. He was good on birds and had enough 
speed for the New England shooting. 

Gilhooley was another orange belton. With 
Highland Fleet and Orangeman, he stood at the 
head of his tribe two or three years. He was a 
larger dog than Highland Fleet and of more 
strength and power but less quality. 

There has been a sharp revival of the Laverack 
fancy, the starting-point having been the importa- 
tion of the orange belton. Barton Tory, in 1900; 
though, perhaps, the movement may be said to 
have been started with Albert's Woodcock, brought 
over a year or two before. Woodcock was rather 
a heavy dog with a typical Laverack head and a 
well-marked orans^e belton coat. The owners of 
Woodcock's puppies seemed to have been un- 
lucky. Most of them died from one cause or 
another. Barton Tory was exhibited by Mr. 



Laveracks in America 89 

Vandergrift of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Few dogs 
have ever surpassed him in quality. He had a hand- 
some head and almost perfect shoulders and front. 
His weak point was a lack of proportion between 
his strong foreparts and his quarters. In any- 
thing like thin condition he looked almost as 
if he might have been made up of two dogs. 

Mallwyd Sirdar followed Barton Tory and de- 
feated him when they first met. Sirdar, owned 
by Mr. George C. Thomas, Jr., of Philadelphia, is 
a rangier dog than Tory and has remarkably sty- 
lish and free action for a Laverack. Judges who 
make a specialty of that type have said that Sir- 
dar's skull and muzzle are the finest seen for many 
years. His faults are eyes of light color and some 
looseness of elbow. 

In the show season of 1903 the crack Laverack 
was Mr. Thomas's Rumney Racket, which, with 
his kennel companion, Madcap, did a great deal 
of winning. Like Highland Fleet, he pleases the 
Llewellin men more than does the average Laver- 
ack. He is a handsome blue belton of good size 
and rangy conformation. Some judges think that 
Dr. Hair's Rumney Ranger has a better head 
than Racket, but loses in other respects. Other 
Laveracks of beautiful heads, coats, and quality 
have been Bracken o' Leek, Flirt o' Leek, and 
Queen's Place Pride. Mr. Thomas has lately 
brought over Ulverstone Rap, and this dog now 



go The Sporting Dog 

stands as, taken all in all, the best Laverack in 
America. 

These recent importations have usually the 
lines of blood represented by Count Howard 
and Monk of Furness, coming down from Tarn 
o' Shanter. 

A setter of Laverack breeding which deserves 
special mention is Champion Sue H., a large 
lemon bclton. She won a number of times in 
the hands of Mr. James Cole of Kansas City as 
well as after he disposed of her. If she had been 
better in hocks and pasterns, she would have been 
hard to beat anywhere. Bred to John Davidson's 
Llewellin, Donald Bane, she produced, among 
others, a dog called Ray, and he became the sire 
of Cole's Lady, a good winner on the bench. 
Bred to Cincinnatus's Pride, Cole's Lady produced 
Lady Cole, a white-and-black setter which some 
judges regard as the most beautiful setter now in 
this country. Lady Cole always won whenever 
shown, but has not been at any of the Eastern 
shows since her debut in the puppy class in New 
York. Her puppies by Oakley Hill, however, 
won blue ribbons in the New York show of 1903. 
While Lady Cole is not a Laverack, she is cer- 
tainly not a Llewellin, and as she is likely to be 
an important figure in the breeding records, I 
mention her among the bench-show setters. She 
is of medium size, white, with the exception of 



Laveracks in America 91 

her ears, and slightly ticked. Her skull and 
muzzle are wonderfully good, though some critics 
would call them a little too refined. In fact, it is 
difficult to find serious fault with her anywhere ex- 
cept on the general ground that she has too much of 
the " fancy " appearance to suit sportsmen. In jus- 
tice to her breeder it is proper to say that in this re- 
spect the impression is made rather by her color, 
since she possesses more than the average bone 
and muscle shown by bitches of her size. 

There are two setters of the last-mentioned kind 
of breeding which are not Laveracks, but prop- 
erly, perhaps, belong in the same group, espe- 
cially since both of them received distinguished 
consideration from Mr. Mortimer, the dean of the 
American corps of judges. One of these setters, 
Winner's Victoria, I have never had any hesita- 
tion in calling the nearest to faultless among dogs 
of the general Laverack type. She was bred 
almost a straight Llewellin, but the fact of her 
appearance merely goes to show the deep influ- 
ence of the Laverack blood in the Llewellins. 
She was a blue belton, weighing forty-five pounds, 
and built on what would be called cobby lines. 
Her symmetry was little short of perfection. 
Llewellin judges did not fancy her much on 
account of her cobbiness. However, it should be 
said that she probably never was shown in pre- 
cisely fit condition except twice. Her owner 



92 The Sporting Dog 

cared little about dogs, and she was nearly always 
either too fat or otherwise below herself in looks. 
Mr. Mortimer lifted her into the highest honors 
at the Kansas City show in 1900. She was put 
down there in perfect condition. He gave her a 
special for the best setter, beneath her being 
Highland Fleet, Albert's Woodcock, Sue H., 
Vic's Vic, and others of a very strong English 
setter class. I have not a catalogue of that show 
at hand, but my recollection is that the Irish 
setters. Champion Ben Law and Champion Lord 
Lismore, were in the list which she beat. In 
the special for the best dog of any breed in the 
show, Mr. Mortimer hesitated some time between 
her and the Great Dane, Sandor vom Inn, finally 
picking Sandor, putting her above quite a list of 
clever winners. 

The other dog to which I refer is Topgallant, 
a large blue belton, weighing, I learn, over sixty 
pounds. Mr. Mortimer picked him for emphatic 
praise at the Chicago show of 1901, though the 
dog did not get a ribbon from the judge. Top- 
gallant won the North American Club Derby in 
the fall of 1900. He is said to be a magnificent 
bird dog, and he is certainly most impressive in 
appearance, though I have never called him a 
bench-show dog under the usual standards. He 
is owned by Mr. H. Marshall Graydon of London, 
Ontario. He is a grandson of Champion Monk 



Laveracks in America 93 

of Furness, but the striking point in his breed- 
ing is his many Hnes to London, the once well- 
known son of Mr. Smith's famous Paris. If the 
English setter men of this country are looking for 
size and vigor, they might very well give attention 
to this handsome Canadian. 

There would be a gap in an account of the 
Laverack type if the unflagging courage of Dr. J. 
E. Hair, of Hartford, Connecticut, were not men- 
tioned. Dr. Hair has been faithful to the typical 
bench-show setter. He has owned Albert's 
Woodcock, Highland Fleet, Beau Brummel, 
Rumney Ranger, and a long list of the modern 
Laveracks, having shown specimens almost every 
season for fifteen years or more. 

Laverack color has come to be almost entirely 
blue belton or orange belton, — the markings 
which Mr. Laverack preferred. Though there are 
belton Llewellins and white-black-tan Laveracks, 
neither is quite typical as a rule. Belton Llew- 
ellins commonly have a muddy look, and the 
heavily marked Laveracks are seldom shown in 
public. Some of the bench-show breeders in 
England have crossed successfully on the Llewel- 
lins, especially on those strong in Dash H blood. 
On the other hand, American Llewellin breeders 
have produced some fairly good show specimens 
from using English Laveracks as a cross. 

In the modern Laveracks, bred largely for the 



94 The Sporting Dog 

bench qualities of coat and head, the hunting 
powers have, as a matter of course, suffered ; and 
yet these dogs are not parlor dogs, or, as Mr. 
Buckell calls them, "diseased Laveracks." Not 
only are some of the " pure " ones excellent shoot- 
ing dogs, but when crossed with the Llewellin, 
they usually produce attractive and satisfactory 
performers, though not often approaching any- 
where near field trial class. Most of the Monk 
of Furness blood as mingled with the Llewellin 
gave good-looking dogs which were easily broken 
and were highly valued by their owners. At the 
same time, it must be confessed that no one 
could see where Monk of Furness added any- 
thing of utility — the most to be said being that 
he did not cause any degeneration of hunting 
instinct or finding abilities. 

In connection with Monk of Furness and other 
modern Laveracks, I may, at the risk of giving 
offence to the owners of such dogs, mention a 
circumstance which has seemed to me peculiar. 
It is that there is more difficulty in breeding 
Laveracks structurally correct than Llewellins. 
I should not call my own experience so extensive 
as to be conclusive, but in nine cases out of ten 
the modern Laveracks in this country seem to me 
to breed such blemishes as bad pasterns and 
hocks, ill-shaped feet, wrongly set shoulders, and 
flat heads. Almost invariably they reproduce a 



Laveracks in America 95 

coat of fine quality and a good setter expression, 
but in the points mentioned they do not seem to 
equal the Llewellins in uniformity of results. I 
bred several litters from imported bench winners 
and their immediate descendants, and have owned 
and seen quite a number having the blood of 
Monk of Furness. My own observation of these 
breeding defects is confirmed by reports I have 
received from a few other breeders. I suppose 
that the fact is due to the exaggerated attention 
paid to the coat by bench-show breeders. If my 
own somewhat limited observation represents a 
general rule, it explains why the purely bench- 
show Laverack in America never bred on. It 
seems as if the exhibitors were compelled con- 
stantly to go to England to find winners. 

In their own field of beauty and distinction of 
appearance the modern Laveracks are not only 
the superiors of other English setters, but are, per- 
haps, the handsomest and most bloodlike of all 
dogs. Owners also find them attractive and 
affectionate companions. One would suppose 
that some way could be devised to blend their 
superb quality with the speed and field work of 
the later Llewellins. Since, however, it has been 
tried many times without encouraging results, per- 
haps the history of the future, as in the past, will 
be that the Laverack with its specialized develop- 
ment of fancy points will lead on the benches, 



96 The Sporting Dog 

while the plainer but more workmanlike Llewellin 
will be in control of public competition on game ; 
the private owner being, according to his taste, a 
Laverack fancier or a Llewellin shootino^ man. 
Mr. Thomas has on the largest scale yet at- 
tempted begun to introduce Laverack blood. It 
is only justice to say that this fall (1903) he sent 
a brace of young ones to a prominent Western 
field trial handler who told me that they had 
speed and range for the work, with all the 
Laverack beauty of head and coat. Distemper 
stopped their training. They were by a Laver- 
ack sire out of Llewellin dams. 

Setter type — correct type, true type, old type, 
are some of the terms used — has misled some 
judges who have handled principally the fancy 
stock of various breeds at bench shows and have 
made no special study of English setters. They 
think of type only as Laverack. Laveracks, when 
good, have peerless beauty, but not the old type 
of Stonehenge. More Llewellins than Laveracks 
are of thoroughly sound type. Cincinnatus's 
Pride, essentially Llewellin in type, though not 
" straight " in pedigree, is a more soundly typical 
English setter than any Laverack ever shown in 
the country. So is Selkirk Dan, the Canadian ; 
and so is Oakley Hill, barring his head. So is 
McKinley; so is Sport's Gath ; so is Prince Rod- 
ney ; so are several other of the fastest and best 
field trial winners. 



CHAPTER VII 

IRISH AND GORDON SETTERS 

While it is an admitted fact that Irish setters 
have not held their own either in pubUc events 
or in the favor of private sportsmen, there is one 
contrary fact which lends to this state of things 
a trifle of perplexity. A large number of 
thorough-going field shots who have owned and 
seen numbers of dogs say that the best setters 
they ever used were Irish. I have in mind ten 
or twelve gentlemen in different parts of the 
country who make this statement when talking 
of their experiences. An example worth men- 
tioning is that of Mr. Charles W. Scudder of St. 
Louis. Few sportsmen anywhere have either 
owned or shot over as many good dogs as Mr. 
Scudder. For many years he has constantly 
kept a picked string of ten or twelve in training and 
has made no discrimination in favor of any breed. 
Sometimes the majority of his dogs are pointers, 
and in other years he has more of setters. 
Frequently they are field trial performers. He 
tells me without reservation that the best dog he 
ever had was an Irish setter, which he describes 

H 97 



98 The Sporting Dog 

as fast, stanch, handy on birds, and always ready 
for work. He admits, however, that it took two 
seasons to train the dog, and that during the first 
year the animal would seldom point at all. Here, 
perhaps, lies one explanation of the Irish setter's 
loss of favor. It is certainly true that it has not 
the natural pointing instinct or judgment in 
locating birds to the degree shown in pointers 
and English setters. 

Before the country which is now the Territory 
of Oklahoma was open to settlement, I was out 
one day on the prairie with the late General, then 
Captain, Woodson of the regular army, a keen 
sportsman and an educated critic of dogs. A 
friend had sent him a beautiful Irish setter some- 
thing over a year old. The captain took the 
youngster out this day to give him a trial on 
birds. The dog started out in attractive fashion, 
ranging fast and with high head on both sides of 
the wagon as we drove along. Prairie chicken and 
quail were both abundant in those days of 
Oklahoma. In a few minutes the Irishman 
struck a "bunch " of chicken. He did not make 
game or hesitate, but dashed through them as if 
they had been so many flies, and went ranging 
along as blithely as if nothing had happened. 
The captain uttered a few muttered maledictions, 
but fancied that the dog would settle down after 
a little more running. Ten minutes later the 



Irish and Gordon Setters 99 

performance was repeated. The dog galloped 
straight through a covey without looking to the 
right or left or appearing in the least interested 
in the birds. Captain Woodson remarked that if 
the rascal would even chase, he would be satisfied 
to give it further education. But not once during 
the entire run was there evidence that the dog 
recognized game. He passed into the hands of 
somebody else in a few days, and I do not know 
what was his further development. Very likely, 
however, if the captain had turned the dog over 
to a trainer, a season of experience would have 
brought back a well-established and valuable 
shooting colleague. 

Irish setters are indisputably satisfactory to a 
great many sportsmen. Those which are good 
are hardy hunters, excellent retrievers, and ready 
for either water or weather. The fact that they 
do not reach their best until three or four years 
old operates against them. I might record 
another feature of the Irish setter character 
which I have never seen mentioned. Though the 
good ones are bold even to recklessness, the timid 
ones are the most creepy and exasperating pot- 
terers I have ever seen of any breed. This 
trouble appears especially often on the female 
side. 

In public field trials the Irish setters have not 
been able to compete with pointers and English 

L.cFC. 



loo The Sporting Dog 

setters. It seems impossible to give them the 
dashing, get-away speed which the judges expect 
in a good stake, and they usually waste too much 
time on their game when they do find it. In the 
early days of field trials they contested fairly well, 
the rules then counting the number of points as 
a standard of competition. In 1879 Erin II 
made a good showing in the Tennessee trials, 
and at that same period Joe Jr., which was half 
Irish, boomed himself by beating Gladstone in a 
match race. The Irish setter. Friend, actually 
did some winning under those early rules. After 
field trials were placed on a settled basis, the Irish 
practically ceased to compete, and their entries 
soon became rare. The breeders have never en- 
tirely given up the idea of beating English setters 
and pointers in the field trials, but their success 
has not been flattering. Mr. Washington of 
Pittsburg tried it in 1890 with his handsome dog, 
Sarsfield. Mr. Wenzel of Philadelphia entered 
that year his Ready II and William H. in one of 
the principal Derbies. Mr. George Gray, also in 
the same Derby, entered Tillie Boru. She was 
described as the best of the Irish entries of that 
year in speed and range. As Mr. Washington 
had for a number of years one of the strongest 
kennels of these setters in the country, his lack of 
success was regarded as almost decisive of the 
chances in field trials. Nothing daunted, Mr. 



Irish and Gordon Setters loi 

Bishop of Cincinnati took up the idea with Fin- 
glas, an imported Irish setter of unusual field 
quality, bringing across the sea a considerable 
youthful reputation. He was by Fingal III out 
of Aveline and from one of the greatest British 
strains. Mr. Bishop also had the full sister, Cole- 
raine. In 1892 the American Club was organ- 
ized on a somewhat new basis with separate 
stakes for Irish setters, English setters, and 
pointers, the three winners to run together for 
the absolute. Finglas won first in the Irish set- 
ter class and also won the absolute, beating the 
pointer, Castleman's Rex, a son of Mainspring, 
and the English setter. Hi Di, by Gath's Hope. 
In the Irish stake Elcho's Maid and Hope Boru, 
both owned by Gray and handled by Mayfield, 
were second and third. In the previous year 
Coleraine had won second in the all-age stake of 
the Irish Setter Club, in which stake Dr. Jarvis's 
Duke Elcho received the rather peculiar reward 
of " favorable commendation." Finglas and Cole- 
raine also competed in the regular Central Club's 
stake in 1892, but neither was placed. In 1893 
Fingalin, by Finglas out of the celebrated bench 
winner, Ruby Glenmore, was second to the pointer, 
Warwick Nellie, in the international Derby run in 
Canada. There were eleven starters, and this win 
must be regarded as a feather in the cap of the 
Irish setter. In 1893 the Irish Setter Club ran 



I02 The Sporting Dog 

its stakes at Thomasville, North Carolina. Mr. 
Tliomson's bitch, Gem, by Shaun, won the Derby, 
with Nugget II, a daughter of Finglas, second, 
and Patricius, a son of Duke Elcho, third. In 
the all-age stake Currer Bell IV, by Tim out of 
Currer Bell III, was first. In 1895 the Irish 
Setter Club ran its stakes at High Point, North 
Carolina. The Derby was won by Lady Finglas, 
a daughter of Finglas out of Lady Swiveller. 
There were, however, but two starters. In the 
all-age stake Dr. Davis won both first and second 
with Lou and Currer Maid, both by Finglas out 
of Currer Bell IV. This almost closes the chap- 
ter of Irish setter field trial performances, though 
others have occasionally been entered, Mr. Thomas 
havinor started Prince Bloomfield last season. 

On the bench the Irish setter is always attractive 
on account of his beautiful color and good move- 
ment. In numbers the exhibit, however, is nearly 
always small. Each class usually consists of two 
or three good dogs in the hands of professional 
handlers, and as many more local specimens of 
rather poor quality. The history of Irish setters 
on the bench is easily told, since there are no 
great differences of opinion which would create 
contests. One high-class bench-winning Irish 
setter is much like another — the differences be- 
ing in relative detail. Two exceptions to this \ 
rule may be noted in the present champion Lord i 



i 




GORDON SETTER 

Heather Crack. Owned by Mr. William Clare Allison, Philadelphia. Photograph 
by Schreiber. Few pictures so well illustrate a good Gordon make-up and coat. 




IRISH SETTER 

Champion Lord Lismore. By Lord Elcho, Jr.-Belle of Orange. Inbred to Elcho. 
Owner, Mr. J. S. Wall. Chicago. An exceptionally strong setter of perfect Irish color. 
When the picture was taken he was not at his best in appearance, not having his full 
length of coat. 



Irish and Gordon Setters 103 

Lismore and Mr. Thomas's Prince Bloomfield. 
Lismore is one of the handsomest dogs now Hv- 
ing, but is more sohdly built and square in the 
head than the usual run of Irish setters. The 
difference is not great, but enough to mark him 
as almost a type of his own. Prince Bloomfield 
is a typical Irishman, but is one of the smallest 
specimens ever taken into a ring. 

Any one can see by glancing at the studbook 
that one of the great progenitors of Irish setters 
in America was Elcho. He was the first of the 
great ones. His descendants are still winning 
on the bench. His best son as a show dog was, 
perhaps, Elcho Jr. Another son, a handsome 
dog of the early days, was Berkeley. During 
most of his bench career this dog was owned by 
Mr. Moore of Philadelphia. Mr. Wenzel of Phila- 
delphia was an ardent patron of the breed for 
years, and his champions, Tim and Chief, were 
regular winners. Another of the early importa- 
tions was Erin, brought over by Mr. Turner of 
St. Louis, who had imported Elcho in company 
with the particularly handsome bitch, Loo II. 
Champion Laura B. was one of the best bitches 
on the benches fifteen years ago, her fine size and 
style making her conspicuous whenever shown. 

These imported reds of one and two decades 
ago are in the pedigrees of nearly all American 
dogs of the breed to-day. 



I04 The Sporting Dog 

Leigh Doane and her descendants were favor- 
ites around Philadelphia for a number of years. 
An imported dog of special reputation in the 
field was Desmond II. He was by the famous 
British dog, Frisco. He was entered in the field 
trials on this side, but, like the rest of his breed, 
failed to distinguish himself, though he won first 
place in the Philadelphia Club's all-age stake of 
1888. 

Among the descendants of Elcho the most 
successful bench-show dogs of recent days are 
Lord Lismore, inbred to Elcho, and Fred Elcho, 
both bench champions. Mr. Vandergrift of Pitts- 
burg, who imported and showed so extensively in 
various breeds for two years, brought over a typi- 
cal and good dog in Prince Victor. All of the 
winning dogs of late years, in fact, have been of 
excellent type, averaging better in depth and rich- 
ness of color than the champions of the earlier 
period. 

The books usually say that the color may be 
deep red or red with a yellow cast. In practice the 
judges for several years have strongly preferred 
the deep mahogany red, and it is now regarded 
as the typical color. The general description of 
the Irish setter in the matter of shape is that 
of the English setter, except that the former 
is higher on the leg and narrower all through. 
A lightness of muzzle and lip which would be 



« 



Irish and Gordon Setters 105 

regarded as a defect in an English setter is 
entirely permissible in the Irish. Many of the 
best have the flank tucked up and the loin curved, 
suggesting the contour of a greyhound. These 
greyhound lines, however, do not make extreme 
speed. A good Irish setter is fast, but the speed 
is not that of field trials. It is galloping rather 
than running. 

Mr. Guthrie of Mexico, Missouri, and some 
other gentlemen in the West have recently dis- 
cussed the plan of selecting specially fast and 
heady Irish setters with the object of breeding 
them up to field trial class. It is much to be 
desired that gentlemen like Mr. Guthrie, who 
has abundant means and is an indefatigable stu- 
dent of the breeding science, will pursue this 
object perseveringly. Whether or not he suc- 
ceeds in meeting the English setters and pointers 
on equal terms, he is at least likely to restore to 
some extent the old popularity of a breed which 
has great utility as a hardy, ready, and reliable 
bird dog. 

The Gordons have been even less successful 
than the Irish in retaining the affections of the 
multitude of shooting men. The reason usually 
given by sportsmen who have tried and discarded 
them is that they are self-willed and hard to 
handle without having class which would be a 
compensation for extra trouble in education. No 



io6 The Sporting Dog 

Gordon has yet had the rapidity of action which 
the prevailing American taste demands, and 
nearly all of them potter a great deal on foot 
scent. 

In color the Gordon is black-and-tan, the tan 
appearing on the jaws, breast, and the inside of 
the legs. The tan should be a rich red and 
sharply outlined from the black. Theoretically a 
slight dash of white on the breast is permissible, 
but judges of this breed are so exacting as to 
color that for practical show purposes a white spot 
is a disqualification in good competition. The 
usual English setter description of shape fits the 
Gordon except that the latter is considerably 
heavier in general make-up, and especially in 
skull and muzzle. This natural heaviness is 
aggravated by a tendency to take on flesh which 
quickly reduces a speed not first rate at best. In 
looks this breed is one of the handsomest, and 
some fanciers are still loyal to its good qualities. 

Though the breed takes its name from the 
Duke of Gordon, at whose kennel the strain of 
black-and-tans was fixed a hundred years ago, the 
.modern Gordon is really a specialized and devel- 
oped form of the black-and-tan color in the Eng- 
lish setter. Some of the English authorities 
believe that the bloodhound was crossed on the 
setter to produce what is known as the Gordon. 
There is no evidence to that effect, but they make 



Irish and Gordon Setters 107 

the inference from the Gordons' tendency to 
dwell on foot scent and from the frequent appear- 
ance of red or haw in the corner of the eye. 

Many black-and-tan setters of more or less 
straight Gordon blood are scattered in all parts 
of the United States, but the breeders who have 
maintained regular kennels of the breed are few. 
In the hands of men who understand them and 
are good shots on single birds, a Gordon is often 
a killing dog. Prior to the introduction of the 
Llewellin and the modern pointer, Gordons were 
highly prized by many persons who shot in the 
thick cover of the East and North. The Llewel- 
lin and pointer have now apparently taken their 
places even in this kind of country. On the 
bench Gordon entries are always a small class. 
It was for some time claimed by many breeders 
that the Duke of Gordon's black-and-tans were 
the important ingredient in the Duke-Rhoebe 
element of the Llewellin setter, but historical 
investigation pretty well disposed of this claim, 
and the Gordons must stand on their own foun- 
dation of merit. 

Mr. Harry Malcolm of Baltimore a dozen years 
ago undertook to establish a kennel of Gordons 
which would compete with other breeds in fast 
and snappy field quality. Some of his best dogs 
became quite noted — among them Whip and 
Stubble. Stubble was taken west to Iowa and 



io8 The Sporting Dog 

competed in one or two field trials, where the 
judges spoke of him with respect. I had the 
pleasure of seeing some of Mr. Malcolm's dogs in 
Baltimore, and found them very much more active 
and alert than the average setter of the breed. 
Later Mr. Malcolm seemed to lose interest in the 
experiment, and nothing of his has come before 
the public for some years. 

When the sporting classes were at their high- 
est popularity in bench shows, the crack Gordons 
were Argus, Belmont, Beaumont, Little Boy, and 
Royal Duke. These were all champions and 
handsome specimens. In the West Dr. Oughten 
of Dwight, Illinois, took up the Gordon and has 
been liberal in his importations. One of his high- 
class imported dogs was Heather Lad. In 1901 
he brought out Heather Donald, the most richly 
colored and best-coated dog seen for years. Don- 
ald was also more vigorous and active than most 
of the Gordons, though his skull was a trifle 
lacking in type and his stern carried as high and 
as much curled as the worst of the Llewellins. 
Dr. Oughten imported nearly all of his dogs from 
the kennel of Mr. Chapman of Scotland. The 
same year Mr. Vandergrift showed a typical and 
excellent dog, imported Duke of Edgeworth, 
which could not exhibit his best form as he was 
well along in years and showing his age. Later 
Mr. Vandergrift obtained a better specimen in 



Irish and Gordon Setters 109 

champion Downham Victor, brought out in the 
New York show of 1902. 

In 1890 the Gordon Setter Club ran a field 
trial stake in connection with one of the South- 
ern trials. It was not a success in either entries 
or character of performance. The winner of 
first was Bendigo, Beaumont second, and Belmont 
third. In 1893 there was a Gordon setter trial 
at Freetown, Massachusetts. Again the starters 
were few and the performance by no means brill- 
iant. The Derby winner was Mr. Arnold's Don, 
Pearle's Jolly G. winning the all-age stake. 

There have always been enough Gordons to 
furnish a few good specimens for the leading 
bench shows, but as a general fact they have 
become in number of comparatively little impor- 
tance. Their fine noses and accurate work on 
single birds have retained for them a few patrons, 
and that is about the sum of what can be said of 
them as field dogs on American game. 



CHAPTER VIII 

GREYHOUNDS 

Coursing, in its ancient and honorable char- 
acter and its association with the early aristocracy 
of sport, may deserve the first place in the annals of 
dogdom. The chief English classic, the Waterloo 
Cup stake, is getting along toward the close of 
its century. The records of breeding have been 
kept regularly during a period much longer than 
that covered by any other breed of dogs. 

In America, however, this sport is of limited 
extent compared with shooting or fox-hunting. 
In the open it is pursued only where the jack- 
rabbits are abundant on the trans-Mississippi 
prairies. Enclosed or park coursing has flour- 
ished in only two cities, San Francisco and St. 
Louis, though it has been taken up spasmodically 
at several other points. To tell the truth, com- 
paratively few Americans have seemed to be in- 
oculated with the spirit. Both on the plains and 
in the cities the typical American has often taken 
up the sport for a few years, but usually to dis- 
miss it for something more to his taste. It is the 



Greyhounds 1 1 1 

first generation of Irish, Scotch, and English who 
have maintained it even to the extent of its Hm- 
ited fashion. They have old-country memories. 
Their sons take up base-ball or horses or shoot- 
ing. The hostility of the anti-cruelty societies 
has had something to do with the reluctance of 
the average United States citizen, but the difficul- 
ties and disappointments of maintaining and 
training a kennel of greyhounds have been more 
effectual in slackening interest. 

Greyhounds are not lacking in intelligence of 
a sort, and many of them are affectionate and 
playful companions. They have one fatal weak- 
ness which unfits them for companionship. A 
coursing-bred greyhound has an insatiable desire 
to pursue any small animal in sight. A man who 
goes walking or driving with a brace of these 
dogs is fortunate if he does not find himself in- 
volved in a quarrel with the owner of some small 
dog, cat, or chicken which has excited the pur- 
suing instinct. A kennel of coursing dogs must 
be kept almost like a stable of horses. They 
need a great deal of exercise and must be care- 
fully handled — both to avoid the danger of their 
chasing and destroying pet animals, and to reduce 
the risk of injuring themselves on hard roads, 
fences, and stones. Another trouble which has 
disgusted many an owner is the scarcity of good 
trainers and kennelmen. I have known perhaps 



112 The Sporting Dog 

twenty Americans to go into coursing with some 
enthusiasm and find themselves, after expending 
a year or so of time and considerable money, 
facing an important stake without a single dog in 
condition to compete. Enthusiasm does not last 
long under such misfortunes. 

Coursing has its infinite variety of technical 
learning, the outgrowth of the intense British 
interest and many years of experience, but its 
general rules are simple. Two dogs are put into 
slips, and as soon as the hare is sighted are allowed 
to run, tugging in the slips until the hare has had 
sufficient " law " and the slipper is certain that he 
can throw them off on equal terms. Off they 
dash. The dog first reaching the hare gets credit 
for speed according to the distance by which he 
beats his competitor — one, two, or three points. 
Then the scoring begins on the " turns " and 
" wrenches " and the " kill." The turn is when 
the hare is forced around at more than a right 
angle ; the wrench is where it swerves at a less 
angle from its course on account of being pressed 
by the dog. Ability to closely work the hare is, 
therefore, as important as speed. A dog is " cun- 
ning " or " wise " when he learns to cut corners 
and head off the prey. Any considerable amount 
of this over-education disqualifies the dog. An 
honest dog is one which runs true to the hare. 
In a stake the dogs which win in the first series 



il 

11 



Greybotmds 113 

are run in braces the second round, and so on 
until the winner comes out in the final. 

On the plains most of the private coursing is 
with a few dogs, and the rules are not closely ob- 
served. When a regular public event, either on 
the plains or in a park, the affair is managed with 
great strictness. The judge must almost neces- 
sarily be mounted in order to follow the work 
with accuracy. The slipper must understand his 
business and have his slips in good condition, so 
that when he pulls the cord they fly off evenly. 
He is also expected to judge carefully when it is 
proper to deliver his dogs. In order that the 
dogs may be readily distinguished, one wears a 
white and the other a red collar, which is merely 
a loose piece of cloth. 

In accordance with the English tradition, cours- 
ing in the open is regarded as the only legitimate 
form of the sport. The old American coursers 
who had a pride in their fancy attempted to pre- 
serve the tradition. The circumstances were 
against them. All the important events for years 
were determined on the plains, but it was found 
that the expense of going from place to place and 
the extreme uncertainty of conditions were diffi- 
culties more severe than most men cared to en- 
counter, after they had tried it for a year or two. 
In 1897 ^^^ American Waterloo Cup, the most 
important event, was taken to an enclosed park at 



114 The Sporting Dog 

Davenport, Iowa. Since then it has regularly 
been held in enclosures, the best and most suc- 
cessful one having been at Delmar Park, St. 
Louis, in the fall of 1902. This stake brought 
picked dogs from Texas, California, Montana, 
Iowa, Colorado, and Kansas. The judge, Mr. John 
Grace, and the slipper, his son, Mr. James Grace, 
were both brought from San Francisco to con- 
duct the running. The winner was the California 
dog, Roman Athlete; the runner-up, Tiburon, 
was owned in St. Louis, but was of California 
birth and training. This stake contained the full 
complement of sixty-four dogs. It may be said 
to have brought out practically all of the best in 
training anywhere in the country. In 1903, the 
American Waterloo was taken to Oklahoma City. 
The winner was again a Californian, nominated 
but not owned by Mr. Rosseter, named Rubber 
Ankles. Rubber Ankles is by imported Fortuna 
Favente, brother to Fabulous Fortune and him- 
self runner-up to Thoughtless Beauty, the English 
Waterloo winner of 1896. Yours Truly, from 
Colorado, was the runner-up. The American 
Derby, at the same meet, was won by Tatlah, 
owned by Mr. McDougall of Butte, Montana. 
Tatlah is by Crawford Lad, and from a dam of 
American stock. The Futurity winner, Path- 
finder, is by the Lowe dog, St. Clair. So breeding 
honors are still rather to the credit of the old 



Greyhounds 1 1 5 

importations. Butte has developed in the past 
three years a warm interest in coursing. 

As in the case of race-horses, Americans have 
drawn their greyhound blood from the most ap- 
proved English sources. San Francisco imported 
quite a number from Australia, but the blood 
lines w^ere the same, going back to Contango, 
King Death, and Scotland Yet, representing from 
year to year the latest successes in England, as 
the Greentick, Ptarmigan, or Herschel blood came 
to the fore. 

History will never tell who was the first Amer- 
ican to see a jack-rabbit. Whoever it was, he 
must have instantly felt the need of a greyhound. 
This large hare of the Western plains has a dash 
of speed which takes him quickly out of the range 
of any ordinary dog, and an endurance which pre- 
cludes the idea of being captured by any plan 
which involves his stopping from exhaustion 
ahead of a slow pursuer. On rising ground I 
have seen jack-rabbits run straight away from 
ordinary greyhounds of native or cold stock. The 
greyhounds were soon willing to quit the chase 
and return to camp. 

Greyhounds were early introduced on the plains 
by cattlemen who had a taste for sport. Some 
army officers and soldiers on the frontier made a 
point of bringing out dogs for the same amuse- 
ment. It was not, however, until about 1885 that 



ii6 The Sporting Dog 

regular coursing began to be known in the United 
States. Dr. Q. Van Hummell was among the 
pioneers and most active promoters of the sport. 
He imported a number of dogs early in the day 
and took some interest in breeding. Among his 
first breeding was to Babazoun, the son of the 
English dog, Britain Still. He owned Verdure 
Clad, a daughter of Greentick. Subsequently, on 
a visit to England in 1895, he obtained Astron- 
omy, a fawn son of Herschel, and Just Eclipsed, 
a daughter of that great English sire. Colonel 
Roger D. Williams of Kentucky was another 
pioneer enthusiast. 

About the time of Dr. Van Hummell's first 
activity a number of Kansas gentlemen, including 
Mr. D. C. Luse and Dr. G. I. Royce, resolved to 
get some greyhounds with which they could estab- 
lish the sport of coursing under a regular system. 
They brought over the brindle-and-white Trales, 
and two half-sisters of the Waterloo winner, Miss 
Glendyne. Dogs of their breeding became quite 
successful and the blood still exists. Most of the 
Trales and Glendyne dogs were close workers 
and good scorers, but were short of first-class 
speed. 

By far the most important event in the history 
of early coursing in America was the decision of 
Mr. H. C. Lowe, a brother of the well-known 
English breeder of field dogs, Mr. F. C. Lowe, to 



\ 



Greyhounds 117 

make his home in America. Mr. Lowe located 
in Lawrence, Kansas, where he still lives. He 
showed remarkable judgment in the selection of 
his first breeding stock. The stud dog was Lord 
Neversettle, a son of Jester. Neversettle was a 
large dog, white with brindle markings. Of the 
other sex Mr. Lowe chose White Lips, black-and- 
white, a daughter of Hotspur, and Partera, a 
brindle, bred, like Lord Neversettle, from the 
Ptarmigan-Gallant Foe blood. White Lips be- 
came the greatest producer that ever has lived or 
probably ever will live in America. Partera was 
a good second. Most of the progeny of White 
Lips were either solid black or black-and-white ; 
those of Partera brindles or reds. For a number 
of years the Lowe dogs almost made up the his- 
tory of coursing as far as stated events were con- 
cerned. They won important stakes from Texas 
to Dakota and from St. Louis to San Francisco. 
Perhaps the most noted, if not the best, was 
Prince Charlie, the black-and-white winner of the 
International stake of 1893. As Mr. Lowe would 
phrase it, Charlie was " extremely fast and remark- 
ably clever." Another great black-and-white son 
of White Lips was Boomerang, which Mr. Lowe 
sold to the Bartelses, a family which took the lead 
in coursing matters in Colorado. The most fa- 
mous daughter of White Lips was Diana, owned 
by Mr. Charles A. Robinson of St. Louis when 



1 1 8 The Sporting Dog 

that gentleman had the best greyhound kennel 
east of the Missouri River. Diana was a wonder- 
ful greyhound. She was one of the few which 
seem to run well under all conditions and even 
when not in good training. She was a medium- 
sized black of powerful build and standing on 
perfect feet and legs. She was a great deal too 
wide in front and heavy in shoulder for a bench 
winner, but proved that these qualities may be 
entirely consistent with great speed and endur- 
ance when not existing to the point of being an 
actual defect. In the fall of 1895 Diana won one 
and divided another of the great stakes on the 
plains, and in February of the next winter went to 
California and beat all the dogs that could be 
gathered in the central event offered by Pacific 
Coast coursers at the opening of Ingleside Park. 
Among other dogs bred by Mr. Lowe were 
Melita, a black, very nearly or quite the equal of 
Diana, though she did not achieve the latter's 
public record ; St. Clair, almost entirely white, the 
fastest of Mr. Lowe's breeding ; St. Lawrence, 
another black-and-white ; Sylvia, a black ; and 
Quickstitch, another black. These were all from 
White Lips. Partera's products by Lord Never- 
settle were Master Peter, the whirlwind brindle 
Patria, Lord Clifton, and other winners. Another 
of her sons was Pretender, a white and brindle 
dog which coursed with only moderate success 



Greyhounds 119 

but became the sire of Tiburon, a noted Cali- 
fornia winner which was runner-up for the Ameri- 
can Waterloo Cup of 1902 in the ownership of 
Mr. Ralph Orthwein of St. Louis. 

After Lord Neversettle's usefulness as a stud 
dog ceased, Mr. Lowe used Prince Charlie for 
several years. He made, however, what most of 
his fellow-breeders called the mistake of inbreed- 
ing, and used Lord Neversettle's daughters from 
Partera with Prince Charlie. He turned out a 
number of winning dogs, but did not maintain 
with that breeding the prestige established by his 
first efforts. Recently he imported into his ken- 
nel Northern Surprise. The best Eastern Derby 
dog of 1902 was by Surprise. 

In 1894 Mr. Edward Mulcaster, a relative of 
the great English coursing man, Tom Graham, 
came to America with some dogs selected for 
him by Mr. Graham. Mulcaster became the most 
successful trainer in the United States and trained 
for one season for Mr. Robinson. During his 
career of a few years as a breeder he imported 
Glenkirk (full brother of Gallant's dam), Gilda, 
Jim o' the Hill, Scandal, and, perhaps most im- 
portant of all. Miller's Rab, the speedy old black. 
From Glenkirk and Gilda he bred the winners, 
Dakota, Fear Not, Gilkirk, and others. From 
Miller's Rab came Master Dennis, Magician, and 
Mystic Maid. 



I20 The Sporting Dog 

Miller's Rab introduced more fire and quick- 
ness into American greyhounds than had been 
before seen, but most of his descendants were 
troubled with small feet and fine bone. Mul- 
caster sold him to Mr. Robinson in St. Louis, and 
the old fellow died in Robinson's possession. 
Miller's Rab dogs were easily trained and were 
always ready to do their best. In this they dif- 
fered markedly from Mr. Lowe's dogs. It was a 
peculiarity of the latter that they seldom came 
up to their best form except after thorough train- 
ing, and were frequently disappointing in the 
hands of inexperienced coursers. 

In the East Mr. Herbert Watson was for a 
long time the most active spirit. That he re- 
mained active was an evidence of keen sports- 
manship, since he was compelled to travel to the 
West to see his own dogs run. Among other 
dogs Mr. Watson owned imported Royal Crest, 
a black son of Greentick. This dog of Mr. 
Watson's has been brought to the attention of the 
public again lately by the performances of his 
descendants. 

About the year 1898 the centre of interest in 
coursing moved bodily to California, where en- 
closed park running became the fashionable 
Sunday sport. The whole population began to 
be interested, and large sums of money were in- 
vested in the park. For some years before that 



Greyhounds 



111 



time Messrs. J. H. Rosseter, John Grace, and a 
few enterprising Californians, who had been de- 
voted to the sport, often journeyed to Kansas or 
Dakota to see the chief events. Coursing became 
popular in California. Mr. Rosseter and other 
gentlemen interested spared no expense or trouble 
in bringing over dogs from England. The great- 
est of these and unquestionably the greatest 
coursing dog America ever saw was For Free- 
dom, obtained, as his name suggests, from the 
English kennel of Messrs. Fawcett. This dog 
was a phenomenon. He had none of the appear- 
ance of the classic English winner. He was 
light and waspy in shape, with a rough coat and 
coarse tail. In actual performance, however, he 
had no rival. It was said that his coursing would 
nearly always consist of a flying dash up to the hare, 
three or four quick points of scoring and a kill ; 
short courses, leaving him fresh. He was equally 
good at all points of the game. After his retire- 
ment he was bred to extensively, but his early 
descendants were by no means able to carry out 
the expectations of their breeders. Later prog- 
eny may do better, though he died young and 
may never have struck the right nick. 

In California, notwithstanding the importation 
of For Freedom and dogs like Fortuna Favente, 
the famous Waterloo Cup contender, the blood of 
Emin Pasha has been more successful, while that 



122 The Sporting Dog 

of the Lowe dogs sent to California has also over- 
topped in breeding quality the Herschel and other 
later fashions. In fact, it is high praise for the 
early importations in various parts of the country 
that they have held their own in competition with 
the latest. For example, the winner of the Amer- 
ican Waterloo Cup in 1901, Monsoon, had for a 
sire Caliph, a dog descended from Mr. Lowe's 
Lord Neversettle-White Lips cross, and his dam 
was by Mulcaster's Jim o' the Hill out of the 
same breeder's Scandal. The winner of the cup 
in 1902 was by Emin Pasha, and his dam was 
Fair Helen by Mulcaster's Dover out of his 
Gilda. The runner-up, Tiburon, was by the 
Lowe dog, Pretender, and his dam by Mr. Wat- 
son's old black, Royal Crest, by Greentick. The 
best dog in the stake was Sacramento Boy, a win- 
ner of nineteen stakes in California and of over 
four thousand dollars in money. This dog was by 
Winged Foot, he by Mulcaster's Jim o' the Hill 
out of Carmen, also bred by Mulcaster. Since 
these dogs won against products of the choicest 
and latest breeding, the only inference is that the 
dogs brought over by Lowe, Watson, and others 
fifteen years ago were as well bred and as good 
as those now existing in the best English ken- 
nels. 

Coursing lends itself particularly well to bet- 
ting, but outside of San Francisco the betting 




COURSING GREYHOUND 

Sacramento Boy. By Winged Foot-Tipperary Lass. American bred. Sire's 
blood from Tom Graham's kennel, England. Fawn-and-white ; medium weight. 
Winner of nineteen stakes and over $4000. Owner, Mr. D. Walsh, Sacramento, 
California. A fairly fast greyhound, but his special excellence has consisted of quick 
and sure scoring on turns and wrenches after reaching the hare. 



Greyhounds 1 23 

adjunct has been of little consequence. In St. 
Louis the slackness of betting has been due to 
the strict anti-gambling laws. On the plains 
the attendance has been oversmall for wagers 
of noticeable amount. Without these obstacles 
coursing might have degenerated altogether into 
a gambling affair. It is exciting ; perhaps more 
so than any other sport with animals. -The races 
come fast, one after the other. It is very easy to 
bring off between twenty and thirty courses in 
an afternoon. Small betting is quickly tempted 
by these rapidly succeeding and blood-stirring 
contests. 

Little attention has been paid in America to 
showing greyhounds on the bench. Usually 
some professional handler has one or two good 
bench specimens, which he carries around 
because he is practically certain of winning prizes 
with them on account of the small competition. 
These bench winners nearly always disappear 
from view after their usefulness in this respect 
has passed. Few devoted coursers care to put 
their dogs on the bench. Exhibitions are a pro- 
lific source of disease among dogs of any kind, 
and especially among greyhounds. Then, too, 
coursers have a prejudice against showing. A 
prominent English expert told me that the 
courser who patronizes bench shows in his coun- 
try is likely to create an impression that his dogs 



124 The Sporfing Dog 

are degenerating. In San Francisco, however, 
and St. Louis coursing dogs have frequently 
been freely exhibited. The best display ever seen 
east of the Rockies was in the St. Louis show of 
1897. Mr. Robinson carried off nearly all the 
honors with a particularly fine string, the cracks 
of which were Magician, Sylvia, and Dakota. I 
had the curious experience of seeing my dog, 
Dakota, the public qualities of which Mr. Robin- 
son controlled, beat some dogs which I exhibited 
for Mr. Lowe, with whom I had an arrangement 
for controlling his St. Louis string. Mr. Lowe 
had the luck the next month to beat all of Mr. 
Robinson's crack dogs in a coursing stake at 
Davenport with Melita and Quickstitch, which 
were then at their best, and gave a magnificent 
exhibition of speed and working powers, in the 
hands of Mr. E. J. Brown, the St. Louis coursing 
enthusiast. 

Just what the future of greyhounds in America 
will be is hard to predict. It is said that the popu- 
larity of the sport in California has considerably 
fallen off, and at this moment there is a notice- 
able decline in St. Louis. Six or eight years ago 
there were more than twenty regular clubs in the 
states of the plains. Now there are very few. 
The multiplication of wire fences which are a 
menace to dogs, with other discouragements, has 
checked the open plains events. The American 



Greyhounds 125 

Coursing Board maintains its authority and keeps 
up an elaborate studbook for registration, but 
there seems to be a slender prospect for coursing 
to attain among us anything like the importance 
it possesses in Great Britain, or even to maintain 
the prestige it has won at times in the past. 

Whippet racing is not much known in America, 
though it has a few votaries and has been occa- 
sionally introduced as a novelty. Even in Eng- 
land this sport is not held in esteem. It is 
followed chiefly among the miners and colliers 
of certain English districts. The whippet is a 
small greyhound, with a terrier cross to give 
quickness in the getaway. The racing is in en- 
closures and for short distances, the whippets 
being trained to race at a red cloth or other 
object. English sportsmen tell me that it has 
more crookedness and trickery than any other 
amusement with dogs. 



CHAPTER IX 

FOXHOUNDS 

America has much more of fox-hunting than 
the average citizen might suppose. In England 
hunting is a sport of such eminent prestige that 
society news, fiction, and even poUtical reports 
are continually keeping it before the public. In 
America nobody hears of fox-hunting except its 
votaries. In fact, they are rather a secretive lot, 
generally living at a distance from the cities and 
rather priding themselves on a contempt for the 
public prints. The sporting papers rarely have 
anything of hunting information which comes 
directly from authentic sources. 

Yet there are few counties in the South or 
Southwest which have not their quota of fox-hunt- 
ing enthusiasts. While not exactly one of the 
devotees, I can vouch from personal observation 
for the statement that between the Delaware Bay 
and the Texas Panhandle nearly every neighbor- 
hood has its esteemed foxhounds — toward the 
Panhandle using them for wolves as much as for 
the " beast of stinking flight." 

Nor is the wolf the only game to share the 
126 



Foxboimds 127 

attentions of the American hound. Some care- 
fully selected and costly packs are used chiefly 
for deer ; while the wildcat, being at once worthy 
game and a hated depredator, becomes in other 
localities the main object of sport. In Taney 
County, Missouri, there is a magnificent preserve 
on the White River where nearly a hundred wild- 
cats were killed last season with the hounds ; not 
all by the hounds, perhaps the majority being shot 
after taking to the trees. 

Indeed, if I were writing a volume on Ameri- 
can hounds, the most exciting chapters would be 
descriptions of wolf hunts and the battles with 
which they conclude. Hounds have to be hounds 
in this sport ; for the hunts are hunts and the 
battles are battles. 

Between Boston and Richmond there are many 
hunt clubs — the Philadelphia neighborhood alone 
having two score — which conduct the sport after 
the English style. Some of these follow the 
drag for the most part. The packs are often of 
American breed ; as often English. The mem- 
bers would not, I think, take issue at all with the 
differentiation that they are riding clubs rather 
than fox-hunting associations in the American 
sense. 

Major Wadsworth, of the Genesee Valley 
Hunt, has made a point of developing a high- 
class pack of English blood, but during the past 



128 The Sporting Dog 

year has lost a number of his best hounds from 
an epidemic ; so that at the moment Mr. Charles 
E. Mather, near his Avonwood seat in the Phila- 
delphia country, is the unchallenged owner of the 
best pack of the Enghsh type. Major Wadsworth 
has also been using a dash of American blood in 
the two years just passed. He has brought over 
English blood at various times since 1876, first 
from the Fitzhardinge, and at intervals from the 
Sir Baltic Cunard, Badminton, d'Tredegar, and 
other packs. Mr. Mather's original draft from 
the Bel voir (Duke of Rutland's) hounds in Eng- 
land has been vastly improved by careful breed- 
ing, retaining its English " sortiness " and adding 
something of American speed and nose. Mr. 
Redmond Stewart of the Green Spring Valley 
Hunt, Baltimore, through Mr. Mather's courtesy, 
has been enabled to experiment with a cross 
of these improved English hounds on American 
stock. Mr. Stewart reports that two of his 
best hounds are of this cross, but that he has not 
obtained the " clarion tone " in tongue, which old 
American fox-hunters regard as an essential qual- 
ification. Our Canadian friends hunt, of course, 
and have in the Montreal Hunt pack the only 
hounds of late English blood regarded as rivalling 
those of Major Wadsworth and Mr. Mather. Dr. 
MacEachran is the ruling authority on hounds in 
the Montreal Hunt and has kept up a high stand- 




FOX HUNTING IN THE SOUTHWEST AND THE TYPE OF 

HOUND IN GENERAL USE 

The dark-colored hounds are black-and-tans, of the character so often met among 
favorite Southwestern strains. 



Foxhounds 129 

ard. When Mr. Foxhall Keene went abroad last 
spring, he expressed an intention of bringing 
back a complete pack. It is reported that he sent 
over 40J couples, bred and hunted as a pack. 
The Meadowbrook Hunt will have the advantage 
of these hounds. It may be that Mr. Keene's pack 
will equal Mr. Mather's. 

A volume designed to show American varia- 
tions from English traditions cannot, however, 
dwell long on the hunt clubs which uphold those 
traditions. 

Radically, the difference between American and 
British hunting is that the first is a matter of 
hounds and the other a question of horses and 
horsemanship. Glorious sport as a riding party 
across country furnishes, the American style is 
more to the purpose when we are on the subject 
of hounds. 

Not long ago, Mr. Hudspeth, the owner of a 
pack in Jackson County, Missouri, which has 
been bred consecutively for over fifty years by 
his uncle and himself, said to me : " You see 
that big hound ? On looks he is the best hound 
in the pack, but it will take another cross to 
bring his blood up to the standard. I like this 
English blood to give color and style, but the 
original importation and the first cross are not 
tough enough for our work. The sire of this 
dog is an English stud dog which a friend 



ijo The Sporting Dog 

broueht over for me to use as a cross. His 
feet are what we call soft. They may have been 
good enough for the well-kept country on the 
other side, but, especially with the unnecessary 
weight and bone he carries, a run of half an 
hour with my pack makes his feet so sore that 
he cannot be taken out for a week after." 

When descanting on hounds, an American 
nearly always talks this way: "No hound ever 
made that red-and-white quit. She may look 
a little lathy, but when they start she's around, 
and when they finish she's in front." 

The hound which strikes, holds, and stays in 
front is always the American foxhound man's 
admiration. The bone, the color, the symmetry, 
— these are all incidents. It does not disturb 
him to have what a Pharisee would call a 
scratch pack. 

As for the horse, that is the least of the South- 
ern hunter's troubles. Sometimes the fox-hun- 
ter has a steady old jumper which he finds more 
useful than the ordinary; but more often he 
will tell you that he can get along well enough 
in a buggy if he can be sure that he has the 
hounds to meet his notions. 

" God bless the ladies," of course. A South- 
ern gentleman would challenge Achilles on a 
contradiction. Just the same, the sentiment is 
likely to be a sotto voce objurgation of the same 



Foxhounds 131 

words but one, when American fox-hunters start 
out for a night with the hounds and the ladies 
express an intention of joining. " He goes fast- 
est who goeth alone " is not a principle in an 
English country house party, but it is in Ameri- 
can fox-hunting. The ladies of the South and 
Southwest do ride to hounds sometimes, but when 
it comes to a real run, I have heard their pull-back 
influences condemned too often for me to assign 
any poetry of chivalry to the fox-hunter's gospel. 

An Eastern M. F. H. who has hunted in 
England, in our Atlantic States, and in the 
South, lets me quote to this effect : — 

" The English hound is taught to run as a 
pack, not to do individual work. The pack is 
taken to a cover in which a fox is marked, so 
to speak, where the earth has been stopped up 
the night before so that he lies above ground. 
There is generally no fox-trail scent left, and 
the hound only gets the scent when the fox is 
started from his resting-place. This scent is, 
of course, the hot scent of the started fox. He 
then breaks cover, and they pursue him with 
that best scent of all in their noses. 

" The Englishman seems to work on the idea 
that a hound has to be up to carrying so much 
weight across country; but the American hound 
is only required to have so much speed, endur- 
ance, nose, ears, eyes, and voice. 



132 The Sporting Dog 

" In America there are no covers kept as there 
are in England. There is no earth stopper ex- 
cept at Montreal. Consequently the American 
hound has got to work as an individual. Our 
woodlands are larger and rougher than in Eng- 
land. It is almost impossible to be always with 
the hounds in their work, on account of the 
swamps, cliffs, and other natural obstacles. 

" One method of hunting in America is to go 
out at early dawn, having a pack of hounds that 
work as individuals ; scatter them here and there 
for a quarter of a mile, and let them finally strike 
the trail of a fox that has passed the night before. 
This may be simply a feed trail ; sometimes the 
trail where the fox has gone off to rest for the 
day. If a feed trail, it is likely to be in a swamp 
where they go after frogs, or in a field where they 
go after mice and other small animals. 

" The American hound's nose is keener, and 
you can easily see that it has got to be, as he is 
obliged to follow a trail which is several hours 
old. When he finally gives tongue on his trail,, 
the other hounds honor his voice and gradually 
the whole pack gets on the trail and works it up. 
This by many is considered the best sort of hound 
work, as it not only instructs one as to what the 
hound may do, but also as to the habits and man- 
ners of the fox." 

If I have made plain the American variation 




AMERICAN FOXHOUND. TRIGG STRAIN 

Forest. White-black-tan. Owned by Mr. W. I. Varner, Varner, Arkansas. 
Selected by Mr. Varner as one of the pack for the test on New England foxes at Barre 
meet, 1903. Event declared off. and Mr. Varner's select Southern pack did not 
appear at the Barre trials. This hound is a flyer and reliable on trail. 



Foxbotinds 133 

in foxhounds, the reader is ready to learn what 
experts think of the separate strains known as 
distinctively American. In order to make this 
study convincing, I have asked my friend, Mr. 
William I. Varner of Varner, Arkansas, one of 
the most careful students of the subject and a 
hound breeder of long experience with both foxes 
and deer, to write the chapter on American hound 
families. Fox-hunters will decree that Mr. Var- 
ner's word has weight. More's the pity that the 
great test of Southern hounds on New England 
foxes, proposed by Mr. Smith of the Grafton 
Hunt, Worcester, Massachusetts, for the meet 
at Barre this fall (1903) fell through because of 
unexpected burdens thrown upon Mr. Smith's 
time. Mr. Varner had undertaken the commis- 
sion of gathering a pack of eight July Walker 
and Trigg hounds for the test. Better luck for 
the sport next year ! 

Mr. Mather has kindly consented to give the 
reasons for his choice of direct English blood. 

These two studies, by Mr. Varner and Mr. 
Mather, are in their respective cults authoritative. 
I am gratified to believe that they throw more 
light on the subject of foxhounds in America than 
has ever before come from the press. If they dis- 
agree, that is all the better for the stimulation of 
the truth-seeker. After all, there is substantial 
agreement. Both argue that the English hound 



134 The Sporting Dog 

must be bred to a more alert and active type for 
our foxes and country. The only issue is whether 
the breeder shall take the American hound as it 
stands or start with a fresh importation. 

AMERICAN HOUND STRAINS 

By William I. Varner 

Three families of foxhounds are most promi- 
nent in the South at the present time, while there 
are several packs of local fame, the result of indi- 
vidual fancy in breeding and crossing; not dis- 
tinct enough, however, to be considered a type. 
Then there have been many English importations, 
used mainly for outcrossing, and hardly ever kept 
pure. At least I am sure that this is true of our 
Southern country. These three strains are the 
Walkers, the Triggs, and the Julys, or July-Bird- 
songs. 

The Walkers are chiefly bred by men in Ken- 
tucky of that name, and have been shipped to 
nearly every part of America where foxes are 
found and where there are devotees of the chase. 
They have been very carefully bred from the best 
of Virginia stock, crossed with carefully selected 
English dogs. Wash Maupin of Kentucky was 
the founder of this strain, and was himself a man 
of glorious memor)^, to whom the brotherhood in 
the United States are greatly indebted for his 



Foxhounds 135 

judgment and care, and for the purity and point 
of perfection to which the strain has been brought. 
The model the old gentleman evidently had be- 
fore him was based upon endurance and game- 
ness, with as much speed, nose, and mouth as were 
compatible with these qualities. And he suc- 
ceeded marvellously. The Walker hounds are 
fast; yet have fine powers of scent and are 
musical of tongue. For grit and bottom they 
are without superiors. From experience I can 
speak of them as good and indefatigable hunters. 
As trailers they take quite a cold track, but are 
rather too careful in working, since it causes them 
oftentimes to be lingerers-on-track and hesitating- 
on-dodges. As a general thing they hew close to 
the line and are said to be track-straddlers. Many 
prefer a hound should straddle, but with me it is 
a fault. In trailing a fox up it enables the fox 
to get too long a lead ; while in running with 
other dogs which have the forward manner of 
catching up track, a straddler is frequently thrown 
out or left far in the rear. For catching foxes 
many prefer the Triggs and Julys, but for a rous- 
ing fine chase, with plenty of mouth and a run to 
a finish, the Walkers are excellent. In size and 
build they are rather larger than the Julys and 
the Triggs, showing more bone and substance; 
nor are they quite so trim. They have strong 
loins, stout muscular legs, yet something lighter 



136 The Sporting Dog 

than the English pattern. Many very beautiful 
dogs come of this breed. Their ears are short, 
yet soft and thin, while their coats are coarse and 
their tails strong and bushy. In color they are 
usually black-white-tan ; though quite a lot of 
them are white and spotted, sometimes with black, 
sometimes with lemon. 

The Triggs are a combination of Maupins and 
Birdsongs. Some forty years ago, about the 
close of Birdsong's life, Hayden C. Trigg of Ken- 
tucky paid him a visit at his old home, Thomas- 
ton, Georgia, and bought seven or eight of the 
best foxhounds he had. He did likewise with ref- 
erence to the Maupins, and then united the two 
strains, producing, after many years of judicious 
breeding and great discrimination in mating, a 
foxhound combining the toughness of the Mau- 
pins together with the speed and energy of the 
Birdsongs. Many declare them to be without a 
peer in America, nor have I, in my experience, 
found anything better. 

Birdsong, an exquisite in point of training, 
breeding, and selecting of foxhounds, developed 
the Irish family almost to a point of perfection. 
These dogs he got from the grandson of Patrick 
Henry of Revolutionary fame. Two, Mountain 
and Muse, had been imported from Ireland dur- 
ing the time of the Taylors and Governor Ogle 
of Maryland. They were crossed on the Virginia 



Foxhounds 137 

Redbone stock, and the outcome was a foxhound 
par excellence. They were our first fox-killers. 
Falling into Birdsong's hands, they were bred to 
a point of nicety perhaps never before equalled. 
One mistake, however, he seems to have made ; 
in trying for extreme speed, beauty, and quality, 
he rendered them somewhat tender and delicate. 
Still, his chief aim was to breed fox-catchers, and 
this they were beyond peradventure. Trigg, in 
uniting these with the Maupins, has succeeded, 
by long and persistent endeavor, in fusing the 
fleetness of one and the stamina of the other to a 
high degree. 

July blood represents the influences of one 
hound, chiefly as bred on the Birdsong strain. A 
short time before Trigg's visit to Birdsong, Miles 
Harris of Georgia had purchased from the Gos- 
nell pack of Maryland the ever memorable July. 
This hound was very strongly bred in the Irish 
blood, and was also obtained for a fancy price. 
As an individual he was wonderful for speed, en- 
ergy, and endurance ; about the medium in size, 
and in color a " dingy black," with long brush on 
his tail, and feathered both on his fore and hind 
legs. Some of the Birdsongs procured by Trigg 
were immediately descended from him, and were 
had at a larger figure than any of the others, 
showing the estimation in which Birdsong held 
his get. Such was the fancy of the Georgians 



138 The Sporting Dog 

themselves for him that nearly every fine bitch in 
the state was bred to him. Afterwards his de- 
scendants were bred in-and-in, sometimes ruin- 
ously close. Yet since inbreeding stamps the 
characteristics of a family strongly, they make 
fox-killers of the highest order. The Julys have 
caught out most of the foxes in Georgia. They 
hunt rapidly, trail rapidly, and run rapidly. They 
do not take scent quite so readily as some others, 
but make it up in fast hunting; and when they 
strike, they move hurriedly on, catching in " here, 
there, — and gone." They get close to a fox on 
the jump, and press him in an amazing pace. 

This close inbreeding, I fear, especially in the 
hands of the injudicious, has injured the stamina 
and gameness of the strain a bit. But where they 
have been in the hands of owners who displayed 
judgment and discernment, they have been found 
to be fox-catchers without peers. To those who 
lay main stress upon such a termination in run- 
ning foxes, these and the Triggs are preferred 
above all others. 

The prevalent colors in this July-Birdsong fam- 
ily are black and tan, with or without white points, 
and reds, with or without white. This latter 
marking is especially frequent among the direct 
Julys, and the shades vary from deep red to pale 
fawn. They are, also, more than often marked 
with gray, — gray spots, gray borders, or sprinkled 



Foxhounds 139 

with gray. In build they are upon very racy 
lines, light of bone and wiry. Their coats are 
coarse and long, their tails strong, straight, and 
usually heavy in brush ; while their ears are short, 
soft, and thin. Their tongue or cry in running is 
short and given in rapid succession. They are 
disposed to squeal at intervals. The energetic 
fire, peculiar to most American fox-breeds in 
tonguing, is pronounced, and no one needs to tell 
you that whatever is in front is moving. While 
you cannot but wish that the note were fuller, you 
find yourself wondering whether any living ani- 
mal could sound a stronger cry when going at the 
clip they travel. It is hard for a deer or a red fox 
to stay ahead of them — that is a well-trained 
pack of them — for two hours. 

PURE ENGLISH HOUNDS 

By Charles E. Mather 

What hounds shall I use ? From the point of 
view of one who wishes to follow a pack of fox- 
hounds across the country, what constitutes a 
good pack of hounds .f* Fifteen or twenty couple 
of hounds that work and run well together can 
find a fox, where foxes are to be found, follow the 
scent to the death or until the fox goes to earth, 
and all be in at the finish ; all the while keeping 
up the music that adds the charm to the sport. 



HO The Sporting Dog 

What is necessary to produce this result ? 

1. Uniformity of size; and of color if you 
want a beautiful pack ; medium size preferred ; 
drafting out the old and slow hounds annually 
and keeping those of special merit to train the 
young hounds in the early fall. 

2. Good conformation and good feet. 

3. Good nose and tongue. 

4. Well-disciplined hounds that will not run 
riot, keen to work and quick to get away on the 
fox, and with endurance to last out the run as long 
as the fox stays above ground. 

5. Hounds that will trot home with the hunts- 
men at the end of the day with their sterns up, 
feet well, and be ready for the morrow. 

Now, how would 3^ou go about obtaining a pack 
of hounds to produce this result ; and a pack that 
would produce its like from year to year? 

Let us suppose that you wanted to race horses, 
what would you do? Only one answer. You 
would purchase from the best families of thorough- 
breds that your purse could command. The fox- 
hound has been bred with care for a longer time 
than the thoroughbred horse. It has been devel- 
oped to a greater degree of perfection and 
uniformity. Its pedigree antedates that of the 
thoroughbred horse. There is no more reason 
why you should use any other than the thor- 
oughbred hound for the chase than why you 



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FOXHOUND. ENGLISH TYPE 

dancer. Third generation bred in America from Belvoir blood. A hound of high 
finish, with intelligence, nose, and voice. Stallion hound of Mr. Mather's kennel, 
near Philadelphia. The heavier chest and bone can be perceived by comparing this 
hound with those of Mr. Varner. 




AMERICAN FOXHOUND. ..ULY STRAIN 

Yorick. Puppy. White-black-tan. Owned by W. I. Varner, Varner. Arkansas. 
Selected by Mr. Varner as his Derby entry for the Barre meet, 1903. The lighter 
frame and head of the American hound of the South are typically plain in Mr. 
Varner's young favorite. 



i/"^-. 



Foxhounds 141 

should use other than the thoroughbred horse 
for the race. 

There is no such distinction in fact as an 
English foxhound and an American foxhound. 
A thoroughbred foxhound is the same in Eng- 
land as in America. We come down to the dis- 
tinction of hounds of pure blood and hounds that 
have been crossed with other breeds. These 
crosses have been so numerous that it is impos- 
sible to breed these crossed or so-called " native " 
hounds with any degree of certainty as to what 
the produce will be. It is a demonstrated fact 
that every departure in breeding from the pure 
blood is a step backwards, and destroys some one 
of the qualities necessary to that perfect hound 
for the chase which has been brought about by 
centuries of breeding in England. When this 
pure blood is developed in America and hunted 
on our wilder foxes, I think that the result is a 
more alert and active hound, although in time it 
may have less bone than those bred in the old 
country. 

In my opinion the American hound is not a 
distinct breed. Being made up of numerous 
crosses from time to time, with no kennel records, 
there is hardly a type which you can point to and 
say, " Now, this is an American hound." To 
illustrate what I mean, I refer you to two " Amer- 
ican " hounds which were winners in the recent 



142 The Sporting Dog 

Brunswick Fur Club trials of 1903 and supposed 
to be the best America can produce. One looks 
like a pointer and one like a very poor sort of a 
half-English, and Mr. Hitchcock and Mr. Smith 
are trying to persuade themselves that there is 
such a thino: as a breed of American foxhounds. 
I have noticed at the bench shows of the Ameri- 
can classes that the first prize usually goes to the 
hound most nearly resembling the English (or 
pure-blooded) hound. 

I have seen many ; but I never saw a hound in 
America which I thought could possibly improve 
a good English hound by crossing. The crossing 
has all been done — by those who know anything 
about it — by breeding their best-made American 
bitches to a pure-blooded English hound. All the 
" American " hound men breed to first-rate pure 
blood whenever they get a chance. Yet, if you call 
the result an English hound, they feel ofTended. 
Oh, dear, no, they would not have an English 
hound ! 

I would no more think of breeding to Mr. 
Hitchcock's "Judy" or to Mr. Smith's "Shirley" 
than a Kentucky breeder of thoroughbreds would 
think of sending his Longfellow or Hanover mares 
to a hackney stallion ; and what sort of a mongrel 
do you think the crossing of " Shirley " and " Judy " 
would produce ? 



CHAPTER X 

BEAGLES 

If the white man who first saw a jack-rabbit 
felt the need of a greyhound, the first one to see 
a cottontail surely resolved to send back to Eng- 
land for beagles, and when he attempted to hunt 
the wily and pugnacious 'coon, his intention 
became a yearning. American cottontails were 
made for beagles or beagles for cottontails, and 
the destiny of each for sporting purposes was 
complete only when they came together. 

Historically, the development of beagles in 
this country is like that of bird dogs. From 
colonial times these small hounds were brought 
over by Americans or by visiting Englishmen 
and introduced along the Atlantic coast. Few 
persons bred them with care. Generally they 
became mixed with foxhounds and produced a 
stock of small hounds resembling the English 
harrier, which was spread all over the settled 
parts of the country, most extensively in the 
South. They were often used on foxes, espe- 
cially when the object was to shoot the depreda- 
tors instead of to capture them after the orthodox 

M3 



144 The Sporting Dog 

fashion. These half-sized hounds were also fav- 
ored on deer by hunters who followed the plan of 
slow-tracking. 

When the era of bench shows set in, all dog 
breeds and beagles with the rest began to be 
systematized. The pioneer of American breeders 
was General Rowett of Carlinville, Illinois. He 
selected his foundation stock carefully, and to 
this day most beagles which may be called 
American-bred trace to his kennel. His stand- 
bys were Sam and Dolly. He bred about 1880 
a dog called Warrior, which became the property 
of Mr. Turner of St. Louis and sired from Rosy, 
another Rowett, the famous Champion Lee, chief 
winner in some of the New York bench shows, 
and the patriarch of the kennel of Mr. Pottinger 
Dorsey of New Market, Maryland, who was for 
years the most prominent American breeder. 
Mr. Dorsey bred Fitzhugh Lee and Lee H, 
and from his imported Chimer produced Dor- 
sey's Pilot, another of the successful American 
sires. 

In the bench-show fancy the climax of interest 
was reached in 1890 and the two or three years 
preceding. At that time Mr. W. Stewart Dif- 
fenderfer of Baltimore was exhibiting his favorite, 
Champion Lou. She was not only a superior 
beagle, but was so attractive in disposition that 
she was a pet on the bench. Mr. Diffenderfer 




BEAGLE. WORKING TYPE 

Champion Freeland. By imported Florist-Triumph. In view of championship 
field winnings Freeland is to be regarded as the first of living beagles in America. 
Height, 14^ inches: weight, 32 pounds. Owned by Guyasuta Kennels, Bellevue, 
Pennsylvania. On the home side he is descended from Dorsey's Lee, and therefore 
from Rowett's beagles. Handled in his public field trials by Mr. McAleer. His sons 
and daughters made a fine record of winning in the fall trials of 1 903. 




CHESAPEAKE BAY DOG 

This is a fine specimen of the short-coat type. She belongs to one of the original 
members of the Chesapeake Bay Dog Club. Bred from the Carroll Island strain. 
Weight, sixty pounds Sedge color. 



Beagles 145 

once showed me at his house a cabinet filled to 
overflowing with cups and medals which Lou 
had won. Mr. A. C. Krueger of Pennsylvania 
was exhibiting at the same time. He was the 
owner of the little twelve-inch dog, Champion 
Bannerman. He also at different times owned 
Cameron's Racket and Rattler HI. A handsome 
and shapely little dog somewhat lacking in sub- 
stance was Royal Krueger, the son of Champion 
Bannerman. This dog was exhibited for several 
years by the Hornell-Harmony kennels of New 
York, and his name appears in many of the latest 
pedigrees. The Somerset Kennels, the owner of 
which was, I think, Mr. Phoebus, exhibited suc- 
cessfully for some years. Their best dog was 
Storm, which was so fully up to the fifteen-inch 
limit that there was frequently a contest over his 
eligibility. This kennel also owned a superior 
bitch called Cloud. Mr. Shellhass of Brooklyn 
was for some years a noted breeder and frequently 
appeared in the ring as judge. In Massachusetts 
and other parts of New England the beagle 
became a favorite hound. Mr. Reed of Barton, 
Vermont, Mr. Arthur Parry, Mr. Laick, and Mr. 
Rutter of Massachusetts were prominent patrons 
of the breed. 

With the introduction of field trials in 1889 
the interest in bench shows rapidly declined 
among the beagle men, and in the last few years 



146 The Sporting Dog 

the entries at bench shows have been few, 
although the quahty from the bench-show stand- 
point has been fully maintained. 

Mr. Parry won first honors, which included the 
special prize for the best dog of all classes, at the 
inaugural trials of 1889, with the wonderfully good 
all-round dog, Frank Forest. Frank had won a 
championship on the bench, being the best show- 
dog of his time with the possible exception of 
Fitzhugh Lee. He was a happy medium between 
the overstout English dog and the rather weedy 
sort which began to appear too frequently in 
American kennels. He was of a good white- 
black-tan color, and strong at all points.. His 
field winnings show that he was a little dog 
of first-rate nose and pace. He is a most impor- 
tant figure in pedigrees of the strictly American 
branch. An illustration of this is the line of 
breeding to the present popular American sire, 
Sailor. Frank Forest sired Clyde, Clyde sired 
Royal Forest, and Royal Forest sired Sailor. 

Frank Forest was sired by Riot, bred by Mr. 
Dodge of Michigan, from Rowett stock and by 
Rattler out of Spider. Mr. Reed of Vermont was 
the breeder and owned Frank's dam, Skip, a stout 
and strong hound. The breeding is an example 
of the occasional success of depending upon get- 
ting a mean between two extremes. Riot was a 
dog which few breeders liked as an individual. 



Beagles 147 

He was my property between 1889 and his death 
some three years later. He was a small dog, 
scarcely thirteen inches, and utterly lacking in 
substance. He had a badly pinched muzzle, 
small bone and a color, nearly all black, which 
was unattractive ; yet he possessed what might 
be called the type qualities to a conspicuous 
degree. He had perfect eyes and expression, a 
good, hard coat and a brush just right in length 
and texture. He was owned by Mr. Krueger at 
one time, but afterwards went to Michigan where 
I obtained him. 

Riot was a queer little beast. He was entirely 
useless in the field, being incurably gun-shy. He 
had a nose so exquisite that he astonished the old 
rabbit-hound owners down on the Eastern Shore 
of Mai-yland where I kejDt him. The coldest trail 
had no puzzles for him, and his voice was as mellow 
as a French horn. His gun-shyness did not ap- 
pear to result exactly from fright, but he treated 
the noise rather as if it were disagreeable. He 
would hunt with zest until a gun went off. Then, 
without lowering his brush or appearing to be in 
the least alarmed, he would quickly turn around 
and trot off home. I also owned Frank Forest's 
sister, Dolly, a charming little hound. When I 
gave up my beagles. Riot and Dolly were left 
on the Eastern Shore, and I am told that their 
descendants, now sadly degenerate with plebeian 



148 The Sporting Dog 

rabbit-dog blood, are still following trails in the 
pine thickets of that section. 

Another good little hound whose name appears 
in modern pedigrees was Champion Ringwood. 
One of the best bitches of her day was Champion 
Lonely, whose name also frequently appears in 
the recent editions of the studbook. 

Some five or six years ago there was in the 
East a revival of interest in regular beagle packs. 
It was accompanied by importations from Eng- 
land, where these hounds are bred to a much 
closer uniformity of appearance and quality than 
on our side. Among the kennels which have 
regular organization and which both exhibit on 
the bench and use hounds in the field are the 
Guyasuta (Messrs. McAleer and Johnston), the 
Rock Ridge (Mr. Rockefeller), the Windholme 
(Mr. Peters), the Somerset (Mr. Post), and the 
Hempstead (Mr. Kernochan) packs in the neigh- 
borhood of New York, and the Middlesex (Mr. 
Higginson) beagles near Boston. Mr. Kernochan 
died recently and his beagles were dispersed 
before that event. The Guyasuta pack includes 
Champion Freeland, one of the few winners of 
beagle championships in the field. He was 
sired by Florist, apparently the most valu- 
able of recent importations. Other dogs im- 
ported during this recent revival were Truman, 
Primate, Fiddler, Orangeman, and Pilgrim. Mr. 



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Beagles 149 

Kernochan, whose death has recently lost a high- 
spirited sportsman to the American world, was 
the most liberal importer. He gave up his regu- 
lar pack before he died, and his best hounds 
became the heads of several promising kennels. 
Imported Baronet has also become a successful 
sire. 

Rather a remarkable little hound is Sailor, 
owned by Mr. Peterson of Homestead, Pennsyl- 
vania. He may be called strictly American-bred. 
His pedigree includes Frank Forest, Rattler, 
Bannerman, and Cameron's Racket. He is small, 
barely over the thirteen-inch point, but was suc- 
cessful in the trials. 

Kentucky has become quite a beagle centre 
recently. The leading kennel there seems to be 
that of Mr. Laurence Gentry of Lexington. His 
principal dog is Champion Blitz. This little bench- 
show champion is partly of imported blood, being 
by Baronet, and partly of what we call our Ameri- 
can strains. His dam's pedigree includes Ring- 
wood, Lonely, and Bannerman. 

Another young beagle which did some sharp 
winning as a puppy is Alonsita Round. He may 
be called of typical American breeding, his line 
including Dorsey's Pilot and Frank Forest. 

Always the phrase used to describe the beagle 
is "miniature foxhound," and nothing could be 
better, since it describes both the dog's appear- 



150 The Sporting Dog 

ance and the purpose of his existence. The most 
important feature of the beagle from a bench 
standpoint is the head, which inchides ears. 
Under the standard favored by most judges the 
head makes up over one-third of the total scoring, 
or, to be exact, thirty-five points. Much impor- 
tance is attached to the eyes, which must be full 
and pleading, the general beagle expression, and 
the ears, which should be very long and of pliable 
leather. Frequently in ordinary-sized beagles the 
ears spread nearly or quite seventeen inches. 
Beagle judges also are sticklers for coat, demand- 
ing a rough and hard texture, the reason being 
that the dog must do his work in briers and other 
severe cover. The tail or brush is also looked 
upon as a cardinal point of type. The color 
should preferably be the tri-color, or white-black- 
tan, of the best foxhounds ; but it may also be 
white-and-black, white-and-tan, or mottled. Some- 
times straight-bred beagles are almost solidly 
black-and-tan, or tan. The outside limit of size 
of a beagle is fifteen inches at the shoulder. Both 
in field trials and on the bench it is common to 
divide entries into two classes; those between 
thirteen and fifteen inches, and those under 
thirteen. 

In the central West the beagle is used very 
little. Rabbits are too plentiful. Consequently 
the beagle is, in the first place, not needed, and, in 



Beagles 1 5 1 

the second place, his work does not show to ad- 
vantage when the rabbits are so abundant that 
the trails are badly mixed. Meat hunters in the 
West can kill more rabbits with a bird dog than 
with a pack of beagles, and, to tell the truth, the 
sportsmen who are not meat hunters regard the 
rabbit as an inferior game, or as they frequently 
express it " nigger meat." A little farther South, 
where the country gets rougher and more thickly 
timbered, half-bred beagles are used for tracking 
deer, though most of the deer hunters whom I 
have known preferred the large and slow foxhound 
of the English type. I refer now not to the more 
sportsmanlike deer hunters, but to the slow 
trackers who care nothing for the chase and are 
simply after the market. 

Much can be said in advocacy of packs of bea- 
gles bred and used after the English practice. 
With us that custom has not yet taken firm root. 
When we write of packs, it must be understood 
that the term is not precise. We may mean 
either of two things. The beagles put down at 
our field trials are bred and hunted for individual 
merit. The pack competitions at these trials are 
made up of fours, sometimes eights, selected not 
without regard to uniformity, to be sure, but pri- 
marily for class in performance rather than sorti- 
ness as a lot. The Guyasuta beagles are a field 
trial and hunting kennel. The Rock Ridge bea- 



152 The Sporting Dog 

gles are of the same sort. On the other hand 
Mr. Higginson's Middlesex Hunt pack is kept 
and hunted strictly as a pack, Mr. Higginson 
using his hounds both on hares and with the drag. 

In establishing a regular pack, whether the in- 
tention is to ride or follow afoot, the master first 
seeks uniformity of look and pace. Uniformity of 
look includes color, size, shape, expression, coat, 
and the typical points of ear and brush. It is a 
pretty art to breed up to a finished standard. In 
work a perfected pack not only presents equality 
of pace, but similarity of style. The master toler- 
ates no flyers in front, no stragglers behind. The 
overfast as well as the overslow must be drafted 
out and sent away from the kennel. Whatever 
the duration of the run, the hounds must not 
string out. 

As men and women of leisure take more to field 
sports, no doubt beagle packs will become more 
numerous. But our American way will alone do 
for the cottontail hare. It best suits our Ameri- 
can way of doing things. Beagles are selected 
and hunted that they may drive for the gun. The 
cottontail is a dodger. Ahead of hounds it will 
almost invariably circle back after a few minutes 
of running. There is no sport in riding to that 
sort of hound work ; not much afoot without a 
gun. The sport is for the hounds to keep molly 
moving until she comes to the gun. And the 



Beagles i ^2 

beagle must know how to hunt as well as how to 
strike and drive, must recognize the likely places, 
and search for the cold trail left by the cottontail 
in its ramblings the night before. 

It is generically a difference like that between 
American hunting of the fox and English riding 
to hounds. 

Field trial men are developing a cleaner and 
more active type of beagle here, though, curiously, 
the separation of type began long ago in England, 
and by regular beagle men has been only of re- 
cent years recognized in America. From Rowett's 
time until lately beagle men accepted the type 
of stocky, cobby hounds, as it appeared on the 
benches. But the more active fellows are ap- 
pearing in all public field competitions, and the 
change will probably be seen more distinctly than 
heretofore on the bench. 

Keeping a regular pack, with an eye to both 
pack appearance and pack running, should be an 
attractive fancy for American ladies who take to 
outdoor recreation. It is both science and amuse- 
ment to maintain such a pack, with all the inter- 
est of a foxhound pack at one-tenth the expense. 

Maintenance of regular packs of either beagles 
or foxhounds goes against the grain of one basic 
law of American sport, a law which explains to 
some extent the departures from English methods 
in all sporting dogs. It is that the American 



154 The Sporting Dog 

dislikes to be burdened with three dogs when 
one will do the work. He is always looking for 
the dog of accuracy and speed to take the place 
of the three slow dogs. As long as the American 
has no landed estate of his own for a game pre- 
serve, as long as he must usually travel a distance 
to get his sport and cover a lot of ground to 
find game, this will be the prevailing American 
custom. 

It is hard to say how far the pursuit of raccoons 
constitutes an approved sport. However that may 
be, 'coon hunting is a zestful amusement in all the 
South and Southwest, and possesses fascinations 
for many gentlemen whom it would be unjust to 
designate by any name less worthy than that of 
true sportsmen. A thoroughly good 'coon dog is 
a much respected individual, and his fame fre- 
quently spreads far and wide over a dozen coun- 
ties. Sometimes he is a straight-bred foxhound ; 
sometimes a straight-bred beagle ; sometimes he 
is a mixture of the two, and often he inherits the 
blood of the old English harriers which were fre- 
quently brought over in the early colonial days. 
A good 'coon dog must be reliable as to nose, 
intelligent in hunting, and thoroughly game. The 
latter quality is of some consequence because the 
'coon is a good fighter, being possessed of extreme 
activity and no contemptible punishing powers. 
Of course a 'coon does not usually go out of his 



Beagles 155 

way to find a battle, and in most cases he is cap- 
tured after he has been treed. But even then he 
is Hkely to get away unless the dog is willing and 
capable in the line of quick and busy conflict. 

All in all, the beagle, pure and mixed, has had 
a career in the hunting experiences of the United 
States quite as important as that of the foxhound 
and not much inferior to that of the shooting 
dog. In the drag-hunt and " tame " fox country 
a pack of beagles, I can imagine, is more desirable 
in some respects than a foxhound pack, if not as 
elevated in dignity. The miniature hound is a 
more attractive and interesting specimen of the 
dog, and a beagle pack is more easily kept and 
handled. 



CHAPTER XI 

CHESAPEAKES AND WATER-SPANIELS 

Retrieving from water is in a bad way as part 
of American sport. A glance at the benches of 
any show tells how feeble is the interest. Unless 
it is one of the stronger Eastern events, there are 
no Chesapeake Bay dogs and a few ordinary speci- 
mens of the Irish water-spaniel. 

When I asked one of the organizers of the old 
Baltimore Chesapeake Bay Dog Club how he 
explained the decay of that breed, he replied, 
" There is no decay of dogs ; the decay is of 
ducks." 

Western sportsmen have a different reason, 
though the "decay of ducks" is also afflicting 
their section. I asked the most persistent duck 
shot among the club men of St. Louis why there 
were not more dogs of the water sort. His answer 
was : " Why should there be even so many ? It is 
as easy to gather dead ducks as to pick up decoys, 
and both can be done at the same time. We keep 
three or four Irish water-spaniels and a few Chesa- 
peake Bay dogs at the club-house, but they are 
seldom used. Nobody cares to bother with them 

156 



Chesapeakes and Water-spaniels 157 

when they are really of no service, whether you 
shoot from a blind or a tank." His opinion is 
widely representative, since for two generations 
St. Louis has been the greatest duck-shooting 
centre in the world, its wild fowl territory cover- 
ing an area of lakes and " slews " along the Miss- 
issippi and Missouri, beside which the Chesapeake 
and its inlets are, with all their fine traditions, but 
a small spot on the map. 

In the central West and down through Texas 
most of the duck shooting is on still water — 
marshes, small lakes, and sloughs. Ducks lie 
where they fall. As the St. Louis amateur said, 
it is less troublesome to gather the birds when 
you are ready than to handle a retriever — per- 
haps none too well trained, perhaps hard mouthed, 
and certainly a wet nuisance ; not to be overnice 
about a smell. 

My St. Louis friend added a supplementary 
verdict to his dismissal of the two retrieving 
breeds. " If I were going to use a retriever," he 
said, " it would be an Irish setter. Our waters are 
not rough and our autumns mild and dry. A 
setter can stand the work, is far more intelligent 
and tractable, and is a quail and chicken dog 
beside." 

Ducking men are not sticklers for pedigree, and 
many of them in the West prefer a cross-bred dog 
to either its water-spaniel mother or setter sire. 



158 The Sporting Dog 

This setter and spaniel cross is enough of a water- 
dog for all ordinary needs, and is an improvement 
in brains and behavior. Sometimes the cross 
makes a rattling good quail and snipe dog. 

Everybody is familiar with the Irish water- 
spaniel. He is so unlike any other dog that to 
be seen is to be both noticed and remembered. 
His topknot, his bare, 'possum tail and his closely 
curling coat mark him in any dog company. 

The Chesapeake is not so peculiar or distinct. 
In fact, he is of rather common appearance. 
Stout and strong, sedge or rusty brown in color, 
the coat dense and close, he is not a beauty. The 
breed came into being in the upper part of the 
bay shores in Maryland. What breeds produced 
this dog is not fully established. The staple folk- 
yarn of the Chesapeake is that an errant princess 
of the dog kind travelled out on the marsh seeking 
adventures, and had a love-affair with an otter of 
the other sex. The fruit of the damosel's romance 
was the Chesapeake Bay dog. The dense coat 
and fondness for water are the contribution of the 
paternal side. This version of the ancient tale of 
the Water Nick is, of course, plain rot. If the 
dog-maiden had encountered an able-bodied otter, 
— even throwing aside the science of genus fertility, 
— she would either have kept her distance or ever 
after have rued the day of her errancy. 

General Ferdinand C. Latrobe, ex- Mayor of 



Cbesapeakes and Water-spaniels iS9 

Baltimore, who is the best authority in the world 
on Chesapeake Bay dogs and who has had per- 
sonal supervision of the strain kept by the Car- 
roll Island Club, the classic home of the breed, 
says : — 

" Many years ago a vessel from Newfoundland 
ran aground near an estate called Walnut Grove, 
on the shores of the Chesapeake. This estate 
belonged to Mr. George Law, a member of a 
well-known Maryland family. On board the ship 
were two Newfoundland dogs, which were given 
by the captain to Mr. Law in return for kindness 
and hospitality shown to himself and his crew. 
The beginning of the Chesapeake dog was a cross 
between these Newfoundlands and the common 
yellow-and-tan-colored hound, or ' 'coon dog,' of 
that part of the country. 

" The marked characteristics of the Chesapeake 
Bay dog give every evidence of the truth of this 
story. The strong power of scent, its hardihood, 
its shorter hair, its medium size, and its remarkable 
endurance come from the hound, while its love of 
water, its powers of swimming, its extraordinary 
ability to endure cold, its furry coat, wonderful 
intelligence, and general good temper are all due 
to the Newfoundland. There has doubtless been 
added, from time to time, some water-spaniel cross, 
which has helped its remarkable retrieving quali- 
ties. The yellow-and-tan of the hound, combined 



i6o The Sporting Dog 

with the black of the Newfoundland and the in- 
troduction of the spaniel, produced the liver color 
of the true Chesapeake Bay dog. In course of 
time the Chesapeake Bay has, in Maryland, be- 
come a distinctive breed. 

" At the Carroll Island Club, of which the 
writer has been a member for over thirty years, 
and the records of which go back for over a 
century, this strain of dogs have been carefully 
bred, and for many years the pedigrees have 
been kept. The same care in breeding the 
Chesapeake Bay has been followed at some of 
the other clubs. 

" From Carroll's Island the stock has been sent 
to the Currituck-sound clubs, and also to the 
Pacific coast. On the island are still preserved 
many of the old names of celebrated dogs. We 
have now a Jimmie, Turk, Dan, Jack, Gill, 
Mollie, Lady, Tim, Drake, Belle, etc., the wonder- 
ful retrieving powers of whose ancestors are fully 
set forth in the records of the ' big bags ' of days 
gone by." 

On the bench the chief exhibitor among the old 
Chesapeake Dog Club set was Mr. J. D. Mallory, 
who usually took out most of the ribbons when 
he put his dogs down. 

Both the Irish water-spaniel and the Chesa- 
peake Bay dog are gallant swimmers and hardy 
retrievers. The Irishman is sadly weak in the 



Cbesapeakes and IVater-spaniels i6i 

quality of temper, and neither of these breeds 
smells too sweet. In the dry and long summers 
of the West they are liable to skin diseases — 
mange and the like. The Irish spaniel is par- 
ticularly unfortunate in this susceptibility to 
eczema and mange. So, except in duck retriev- 
ing as a steady profession, these two breeds are 
not attractive. Few men get more than a week 
or such a matter on ducks in a year, and shooting 
becomes thinner picking every season. So the 
water retrievers do not win supporters. 

Still, there are followers of the sport who stick 
to their retrievers. The Carroll Island Club, of 
Baltimore membership, is where the Chesapeake 
Bay dog is most highly honored and most care- 
fully bred. Ducks or no ducks, General Latrobe 
and his friends will no doubt maintain the excel- 
lence and purity of their strain for a long period. 
Many good-working Irish water-spaniels are dis- 
tributed through the lake country between the 
St. Lawrence and the Red River of the North, 
where retrieving is a necessary adjunct of duck- 
ing and where the water is too chilly for a setter, 
though the duck season begins early. An excel- 
lent animal of the useful type, The O'Donoghue, 
left a family up in that region when he died a few 
years ago. There is enough other good blood to 
preserve the integrity of the breed as long as may 
be desired. Champion Dan Maloney is the last 



1 62 The Sporting Dog 

typical Chesapeake I have seen on the bench in 
the West. But there are many others in private 
hands. 

If ducks could be protected from the reckless 
slaughter which follows their flight every mile 
from the breeding grounds to the Gulf and back ; 
if only spring shooting could be effectually 
abolished, these two breeds, magnificent in the 
water, would have an increasing popularity. If 
the ducks are to disappear, neither breed seems 
to possess the agreeable house and yard qualities 
which would sustain competition with other dogs. 

Americans who study the dog family regret 
that the Chesapeake Bay dog, until the advent 
of the Boston terrier about the only breed of 
native production, should fall into decline before it 
is suiificiently established to breed true and per- 
petuate the type. That they do not breed re- 
liably is the experience of nearly all who have 
made an experiment; though I confess that I 
am not acquainted with the kennel records of 
the Carroll Island Club. I do know that I had a 
bitch, from close-coated sire and dam, which had 
a long, straight, open coat and a rather foxy or 
Spitz head; and that, bred to a capital close- 
coated dog, she produced straight and open coats 
in half of her puppies. Anybody who has seen 
these dogs perform in the water would share the 
dog fancier's hope that the breed may be special- 



Chesapeake and IVafer-spaniels 16 



J 



ized and perpetuated. I recall one splendid chap 
on the ocean beach, which would dive through 
the heavy breakers by the hour if a friendly hand 
would share his sport by throwing a stick. We 
who live in the West cannot be depended upon 
to help, but the Chesapeake dwellers ought to 
perfect the breed if only from pride in the name. 



CHAPTER XII 

FOX TERRIERS 

While it requires something of a conscious 
effort on the part of owners to make a practical 
sporting dog of the fox terrier in America, the 
wide distribution and great numbers of this breed 
literally force a special attention. Leaving out 
mongrel hounds and bird dogs of doubtful ex- 
traction, it would seem that, taking the country 
over, fox terriers outnumber any other well-de- 
fined breed of dogs. Their sporty appearance 
and the ease with which they are kept seem to 
present attractions to all kinds of people. 

Since visiting at a friend's place in the coun- 
try some months ago, I feel compelled to give 
fox terriers a position among true sporting dogs. 
This gentleman has a large property and man- 
ages a still larger adjacent estate belonging to 
female heirs. He has a dozen fox terriers about 
his place and will not admit any other dog. His 
reasons for settling down on these terriers invite 
reflection. He says that they are more agreeable 
company, are better watch-dogs, do not suck eggs 
or worry sheep, stay at home, are hardier and less 

164 




WIRE-HAIR FOX TERRIER 

Ruby Matchbox (imported). By All Bristies-Oronsay Value. Crystal Palace 
winner in England. Owned by Mr. J. Wallace Wakem, Chicago. Typical wire-hair 
terrier in size, coat, color, and expression. 



Fox Terriers 165 

troubled with diseases. Horses and cattle like 
to have them about, and rats and weasels stay 
away. On the sporting side he finds them help- 
ful on 'coons and rabbits. They soon learn to 
trail quite a little, but that is not their field of 
usefulness. They are good on 'coons because, 
while they are weak on the trailing side, they 
are much quicker than hounds in preventing the 
escape of the game after a tree has fallen, or 
when for any other reason the 'coon has been 
compelled to take the ground. When rabbits are 
numerous enough to be troublesome, fox terriers 
are effective. They can start more rabbits than 
can beagles or large hounds; and if a man knows 
how to hunt the American hare and how to sta- 
tion himself, he would rather have a dog which 
starts game quickly than one which trails faith- 
fully. As to squirrels, my friend says that the 
fox terrier is the best squirrel dog he ever saw. 

We have, therefore, a legitimate ground on 
which to class these popular little dogs as mem- 
bers of the American sporting class. 

There have been four fortresses of the fox 
terrier fancy. First came the Blemton (Mr. 
August Belmont) ; then the Warren (Mr. Ruther- 
ford), the Cairnsmuir (Mr. Carnochan), and the 
Norfolk (Mr. Gooderham). These first three 
have been around New York and the last at 
Toronto, Canada. From these great nurseries 



1 66 The Sporting Dog 

fox terriers, both smooth and wire hair, have 
been distributed all over the United States and 
British America. Each of the four has imported 
freely. They have given to the fanciers the 
Vicary and other fashions in English terrier 
blood. 

There have been two high tides in fox terriers. 
The first was when Mr. Belmont had the gay 
little white dog, Lucifer, the still more typical 
but not so compact Rachel, Bacchanal, Dusky 
Trap, and others. In the height of his enthu- 
siasm I remember seeing Mr. Belmont industri- 
ously treading the sawdust and judging a large 
class of terriers at a New York show some fifteen 
years ago. 

The other wave of popularity was when Mr. 
Carnochan took up the fancy in earnest, and Mr. 
Raper, the English professional, sent over the 
smooth Claude Duval and the great wire hair. 
Go Bang. Mr. Carnochan not only placed Go 
Bang in his kennel, but also secured that other 
son of Meersbrook Bristles, Champion Thorn- 
field Knockout. Lately he has kept himself at 
the head of the wire hair fancy by bringing over 
Champion Barkby Ben. 

Mr. Rutherford now has Dusky Don II, Clau- 
dian, and a half-dozen other smooth stud dogs, 
and has recently enlarged his kennel. 

From these four kennels and from many other 



Fox Terriers 167 

importations, no end of more or less permanent 
establishments have been undertaken, covering 
every state in the Union. 

The fox terrier must surely be the most adapt- 
able of all dogs. You can see him revelling in 
the snow around Duluth and St. Paul, equally 
lively and at home in Mobile and New Orleans. 

There could scarcely be such a thing as an 
exhaustive study of fox terriers in America un- 
less one were going to bring out a set of tomes 
like that of the California Bancroft's historical 
compilations. Nothing worth while would at- 
tend such an attempt, since a fox terrier is a 
fox terrier, and either does or does not come up 
to the standards fixed on the English benches. 
Moreover, our English friends usually manage 
every year to trot out a few new champions 
which they are willing to send over to replenish 
our supply and perhaps to set new fashions of 
long heads and toppy ear carriage. Every bench- 
show season is a sort of new era in terriers. 



CHAPTER XIII 

CHOOSING A SHOOTING DOG 

When the amateur sportsman has means and 
opportunity, the easiest and the cheapest method 
of making a selection is to buy a matured dog 
which has beauty, style, speed, nose, brains, fash- 
ionable pedigree, and a finished education. But 
such dogs are not picked up every day, and, like 
horses of the same class, come high when you 
undertake to purchase them from men who un- 
derstand their value. 

In selecting a dog or judging a man it is a 
good rule not to pass judgment on defects alone. 
There never was a perfect dog, and critics of the 
shallow sort are fond of exhibiting their knowl- 
edge by dwelling on minor defects. What you 
desire, primarily, is a dog of fairly good looks and 
a reliable efficiency of work. Keep those qualities 
always in mind. Of course, you wish to escape 
all blemishes as far as possible ; but do not be 
misled into condemnins^ a dog: s:ood in essentials 
because somebody perceives a few hairs too many 
at the end of the tail or a fraction of an inch less 
leather than he fancies in the ear. 

1 68 



Choosing a Shooting Dog 169 

In the field, also, be careful not to attach too 
much importance to slight faults which appear at 
a first trial. Be sure that the dogf is of the rieht 
stuff and then go ahead. Remember that most 
of what a dog knows he learns from experience. 
A young dog with no experience is likely to have 
many faults which disappear rapidly with work on 
game. You cannot compare the work of a dog 
which has seldom or never been afield with that 
of a veteran which has long been accustomed to 
game. An experienced eye will tell quickly 
whether a man or dog is a born fool or rascal, 
but the amateur cannot afford to judge hastily. 

Some of the errors which make the worst im- 
pression and which sportsmen condemn most 
severely are those which are easily cured. There 
are authorities who say that false pointing is an 
inherent weakness of either nose or intelligence. 
I am surprised that any man who has owned 
dogs should make such a statement. One kind 
of false pointing may be an incurable disease or 
weakness, but the ordinary kind usually disap- 
pears with experience. Most of the immediate 
descendants of Count Noble had a strong ten- 
dency to false point, but in few cases was it per- 
sistent. Cincinnatus was an example. One man 
who attended field trials at that time condemned 
him severely and told me that the dog would as 
soon point a drove of pigs as a bevy of birds. I 



170 The Sporting Dog 

have, however, no reason to suppose that Cincin- 
natus was not a good bird dog. Certainly Mr. 
Dager used him for regular shooting, as he would 
scarcely have done if the dog had been a de- 
ceiver. A daughter of Cincinnatus, which I 
owned, was in her first year a most annoying 
victim of this fault. In her second year I took 
her on a shooting trip to the Ozarks. It hap- 
pened that the place I visited was almost entirely 
bare of game, owing to a severe winter the pre- 
vious year. Not being able to find game, the 
bitch took to false pointing. I think it safe to 
say that at times she pointed a hundred times in 
a space of two or three acres where there was no 
sign of birds. She had been worked but little 
for some time, and a lack of practice and her 
anxiety to find something were the causes of the 
trouble. Later, when she was put in regular 
training, she became as positive and clean-cut in 
her bird work as a man could wish. For several 
seasons she was the shooting dog of Mr. Weems 
of Quincy, Illinois. He is a practical sportsman 
" with no foolishness about him," and he regarded 
her as an exceptionally efficient dog. Field trial 
dogs often show this fault, from the fact that very 
few birds are killed over them, and they become 
a little puzzled as to what it is all about. This 
was the case of vSeven-up, a fast and stylish field 
trial dog in his Derby year and several times a 



Choosing a Shooting Dog 171 

winner. He did not locate at all well at that 
time, but when used in regular shooting became 
accurate and skilful in his bird work. Lady 
Maud Mannering, a clever winner, also devel- 
oped this fault for a time. Sport's Gath, a fine 
shooting dog as well as a distinguished field trial 
winner, would do a great deal of false pointing 
when he was worked, without any shooting to tell 
him what kind of game was wanted. To make it 
clear, I should add that in treating this fault as 
venial I am considering dogs which in the im- 
portant respects show character and intelligence. 
If a dog is silly or stupid his pointing will con- 
tinue silly or stupid. 

Gun-shyness is a trouble which amateurs and 
clumsy trainers are unable to deal with success- 
fully. Except in extreme cases, however, it gives 
a good trainer little trouble. Many of the finest 
dogs begin that way. While nobody would call 
it a merit or a good sign, it is not to be regarded 
as any great misfortune, if only the handler 
possesses a little tact and knowledge. Jingo's 
Light, the pointer, became badly gun-shy from 
rough handling his first year. He is but one of 
a number of great performers which went through 
the same experience. 

There is one fault which does come under the 
head of good signs. That is flushing in the 
heyday of youth and inexperience. A young dog 



172 The Sporting Dog 

which points too wiUingly and is stanch from 
the first is not hkely to exhibit later any great 
energy or class. To a good dog the stanchness 
on point comes with a little experience and only 
that way. If a young dog recognizes game, the 
fact that he jumps into it a second later is rather 
to the credit of his courage and spirit than other- 
wise. At one of the Illinois field trials, Dan- 
forth's Nick threw himself out of competition by 
a memorable bit of flushing. He flushed two 
lara^e bevies one after the other and had both 
scattered down a ditch bank. For about two 
minutes he kept the air full of birds, exciting the 
laughter of the spectators and the ire of Updike, 
his handler. Nick is now a staid and sober 
shooting dog, retaining his speed and hunt, and 
adding thereto an entirely comfortable stanch- 
ness on birds. 

Bolting or ranging beyond control of the 
handler is another of those faults of which 
superficial critics make much, but which, in nine 
cases out of ten, is readily controlled. This is 
the fault of overboldness, and its contrary is an 
apparent shyness and timidity in the kennel and 
with strangers. This latter fault is another 
which it will not do to emphasize too much. 
Some of those which seem most shrinking and 
quiet around the kennel are the boldest and most 
tireless workers when they get out. Vice versa, 



Choosing a Shooting Dog 173 

some of those which are the most fussy and 
anxious in the kennel are quitters and dullards 
in the field. 

Jealousy is a bothersome fault. If, however, 
a handler once with a check-cord gets a dog in 
the habit of stopping at command, the annoyance 
disappears. 

Defects which the bench-show experts dwell 
upon frequently need not trouble the amateur 
sportsman unless he intends to exhibit. Bench- 
show men ask for narrow shoulders in shooting 
dogs and greyhounds. It is reasonable to sup- 
pose that they are right, and yet almost every 
first-class shooting dog has round and muscular 
shoulders. This is not to be confused with heavy 
and cumbersome shoulders, which are always to 
be condemned. Even in greyhounds the rather 
thick shoulder is the rule among first-class dogs 
as far as I have been able to observe them. A 
dog which Mr. Watson picked, not only as the 
best greyhound, but as the best dog, in the some- 
what celebrated exhibition at St. Louis, in 1897, 
was Magician, a son of Miller's Rab. Mr. Wat- 
son specially admired the dog's narrow shoulders 
and straight front. Yet Magician was never a 
very fast dog, was a very poor killer, and won his 
coursing honors almost purely on his staying 
powers. This latter attribute he did not get from 
his shoulders, because he had not at any time 



174 The Sporting Dog 

what one would call a smooth gait, at least as 
compared with real flyers. If Mr. H. C. Lowe 
ever bred a dog with what the bench-show men 
would call good shoulders, I never saw it. Yet 
no other man has ever sent out as many winners 
of the first flight. 

There are two cardinal questions in choosing 
a shooting dog. One is the breed to be selected, 
and the other is whether the specimen shall be a 
male or female. As to the breed, the inquirer 
would do better to learn for himself which he 
likes best. For the young sportsman I should be 
inclined to recommend the pointer or the Laver- 
ack English setter. Either of these will do good 
work with less of scientific handling than will in 
most cases be required of the other strains and 
breeds. The modern Laverack is generally 
docile, responsive, and quick to begin pointing. 
I have also seen many young amateurs who got 
along well with Gordons. These dogs are usually 
rather self-willed, but are not disposed to range 
out of hand, and are generally very sure from the 
first on single birds in heavy cover. Both the 
Laverack and Gordon have the additional advan- 
tage of carrying their pedigrees in their looks, and 
impress all bystanders with the fact that they are 
well bred. 

In picking a young puppy before weaning time, 
I should advise the amateur to select the fattest 



Choosing a Shooting Dog 175 

one, provided the color suits him. The fat pup 
will not necessarily be the largest one, but is tol- 
erably sure to be the vigorous and aggressive one. 
Only tolerably sure, however, because the runt is 
sometimes the crackajack. 

In the matter of size, I emphatically recommend 
the medium. Neither very large dogs nor very 
small ones usually carry the best qualities of the 
breed. The normal is, nine times out of ten, the 
right. I do not so much refer to the disadvan- 
tages of size per se, as to the fact that anything 
which tends abnormally one way or the other is 
likely to be deficient in the essential qualities. 

In the matter of male or female, my own judg- 
ment is positive, though there will be many to 
disagree. The female field dog usually shows 
best in the early stages. She is quicker and han- 
dier, and has enough vixenish fire in her bird 
work to present at least the appearance of earnest 
effort. On the other hand, I say without hesita- 
tion that I never saw a bitch which developed first- 
class head-work, and few of them train on. To be 
sure, some have won the highest championships, 
but I do not believe that they did it with their 
heads. I have seen a number of high-class 
bitches, but I never saw one exhibit those feats of 
intelligence which I have seen a number of times 
in the setter Doc Hick, and more than once in 
the pointer King Cyrano, as well as in other dogs. 



176 The Sporting Dog 

Hick, in fact, had few equals even among his own 
sex. He seldom appeared at his very best in a 
field trial, because he usually ranged just about 
far enough to keep a little outside the other dog. 
It was his head-work which made him specially 
superior, and it required some knowledge of him 
to fully appreciate his faculties. He had one 
habit which I have not seen elsewhere developed 
to the same degree, but which every field dog 
could have with benefit. He never bolted and 
never came in to his handler, but whenever he 
went down into a ditch or behind a clump of 
bushes he would turn his head around in a pecul- 
iar way and take a glance to see whether the 
handler was coming along; then he would dash 
on about his hunting business. 

There may be bitches which have this sort of 
mental faculty, but I can only say that I never 
saw one. My advice, therefore, is that if one 
wants a snappy, quick, handy dog, he would prob- 
ably be better satisfied with a female. It is only 
justice to say, too, that more dogs than bitches are 
likely to loaf. But for the very highest class of 
work, which includes a recognition of conditions 
and dealing with them to the best advantage, I 
should say decidedly, Stick to the dog. 

In gathering together morsels of advice for the 
amateur, I might cite a verdict which I recently 
saw in a letter from Dr. Rogers of Mississippi, an 



Choosing a Shooting Dog 177 

experienced field shot and a popular field trial 
judge. Grading the dogs which he has seen, 
Dr. Rogers places them in this way: for speed, 
Paul Bo, setter ; range, Daisy Hope, setter ; bird 
sense, Jingo, pointer; handling, Bohemian Girl, 
setter; nose, Gath, setter; iron courage, Glad- 
stone, setter. It seems that Dr. Rogers picks the 
pointer for natural cleverness in dealing with 
birds, and the setter for speed, courage, and per- 
haps acute nose. 

In the matter of color for either pointer or set- 
ter, I rather prefer orange-and-white, with plenty 
of white, but it is not the fashion in either breed. 
The fashionable color for pointers is liver-and- 
white, and for setters white-black-tan with good- 
sized black patches. 

Choosing dogs for different kinds of game and 
different sections of the country brings up again 
the qualities of the special breeds. Some men 
use cocker spaniels for ruffed grouse. It has 
always seemed, though, that they sought grouse 
in order to work the spaniels. Frank Forester 
long ago nearly covered the American view, Eng- 
lish-bred though he was, when he said that on 
game which makes a very slow dog necessary, a 
good shot can do better without any dog at all. 
If a shrewd man were after ruffed grouse on a 
wager, he would take a well-broken, but fairly 
speedy setter, or would leave his dogs home and 



178 The Sporting Dog 

rely upon his own knowledge of the bird's habits. 
Shooting certain game over cockers may do in 
England where the game is preserved in known 
places, and where it may be " gathered " almost 
as a boy gathers chestnuts from trees which he 
spotted in the summer woods and has been watch- 
ing ever since. In America somebody or some- 
thing must find game. Ground must be covered. 

So with woodcock and snipe. There are times 
and places when a spaniel or a very slow pointer 
would keep the air vibrant with good shooting, 
but the vigilant shot under such joyous circum- 
stances would kick up his own shooting. On 
most of the woodcock and snipe days when the 
birds are scarce enough to call for the services of 
a dog, what a man needs is one which will keep 
moving, well out at times, has a long-range nose 
and both decision and caution in signifying the 
presence of birds. Only a pointer or setter can 
so perform, and the setter is likely to be the 
better on account of water and thick cover. 

On prairie chicken I like a pointer. While 
the nights may be cool, the days are hot in the 
prairie country during the chicken season. A 
setter stands heat as well as a pointer, but he does 
not manage it as well. Setter men would assign 
the cause to the pointer's not being a plucky dog 
under discomfort; pointer men would put it on 
the ground that their breed has more sense. 



Choosing a Shooting Dog 179 

Anyhow, a setter of good class generally over- 
heats himself in August or early September 
chicken shooting by beginning at a pace too fast. 
He either pumps himself out or loses his nose. 
The pointer usually regulates his speed better 
and gives a more killing day. He does not begin 
with a gait beyond his capacity to stand the hot 
weather. On the prairie the setter's only advan- 
tage is that his feet stand the cutting effect of the 
dry grass much better. 

In the quail season the comparison is reversed 
and, all things considered, the setter is the more 
useful dog in average quail country, the pointer's 
one decided advantage here being his indifference 
to the always recurring bur troubles of the setter. 

This all goes to the question of relative effi- 
ciency. A man can get his fun and sport with a 
cocker or any dog which he fancies and knows 
how to handle. Maybe, if we Americans devoted 
more attention to the pleasure of trying the spe- 
cial qualities of different dogs and less to mere 
shooting, field sport would really be better worth 
while. As the sport goes, however, the rule 
stands that the devotee would for all American 
upland game better use a tolerably fast and busy 
setter or pointer, or depend on his own fieldcraft. 
The cocker and other sporting spaniels are en- 
gaging little fellows, among the brightest, most in- 
telligent and affectionate of dogs. They quickly 



i8o The Sporting Dog 

learn to obey whistle and voice. The spaniel 
style of hunting is with nose to the ground. The 
style, with their short legs and heavy bodies, 
makes their range limited ; as, in fact, the pur- 
pose of their breeding contemplates. It is not 
desired that they travel wide. They penetrate 
any cover and in a rough, tangled country can 
rout out game better than most dogs. One who 
likes and understands them can make them useful 
and pleasurable in certain kinds of shooting. It 
still remains true, however, that in America the 
setter and pointer, even on grouse and woodcock, 
are much more serviceable to the gun. 

When the tramp is the first motive and shoot- 
ing an incident; when one is botanist by avoca- 
tion and sportsman as bird or beastie may happen ; 
when the wandering is for the sake of woods and 
fields, with the contingency of knocking over a 
cottontail or squirrel or grouse if it taunts the 
eye and gun, then the sporting spaniel for me. 
The cocker or field spaniel will get into less 
trouble and make more entertainment than any 
other dog. You can talk friendly gossip to him 
and have always a responsive audience. Any- 
thing that pleases your lazy hours to teach, he 
will learn. You could not lose him if you tried. 
He will watch while you sleep, and with nose, 
ear, and brain most exquisitely acute. While he 
is not a producer of big bags, his area of action 



Choosing a Shooting Dog 1 8 1 

being small, he will hustle out a wonderful variety 
of game in a loiter of a few days and, unless he 
is a Clumber, will always tell you about it aloud 
in time. No dog within my knowledge is so 
readily brought under command and so human in 
its companionship. Breeding for shortness of leg 
and perfection of coat has not yet diminished 
these, his psychical charms. His thick jacket 
will be a receptacle of burs and mud, but it will 
protect him in brier and rain. In an outing afoot 
for its own sake, pick the sporting spaniel ahead 
of everything else canine. 

He who would cut up the map into sections for 
the assignment of dogs thereto must know much 
beside temperatures. In far Manitoba pointers 
are popular because pinnated and sharp-tail 
grouse are the best game, and August and Sep- 
tember the best season. In the Gulf States 
setters are used freely, because there they shoot 
quail all winter and mostly in brushy country. 
The dogs which are most successful in the East 
also seem to excel on California quail and gen- 
erally through the Pacific slope. It would be 
wise to find what is to be done before checking 
off sections for different breeds or different types. 

When pondering on a pedigree, the amateur 
will find all kinds of opinions. I should be in- 
clined to put it in this way, beginning with Eng- 
lish setters. If you desire a fashionable pedigree, 



1 82 The Sporting Dog 

look for Tony Boy, Count Gladstone IV, Rod- 
field, or one of their sons. If you wish to be sure 
of having a first-rate, genuine, determined bird 
dog be sure to have Marie's Sport or Prince Luci- 
fer blood close up. I am inclined to place great 
faith in Prince Lucifer blood, since every dog 
I ever saw which typed after that sire was good. 
Not to mention such field trial winners as Sport's 
Solomon, Sport's Boy, Sport's Lady, and Dash 
Antonio, all having Lucifer dams, I can cite the 
case of a dog by a son of Prince Lucifer, which I 
owned and afterwards sent down to Maryland. 
He w^as a genuine bird dog through and through, 
and w^as one of the few which always retrieved on 
the run, perfectly willing to retrieve, but cheer- 
fully anxious to get through wath it and go about 
his hunting again. There was something spar- 
kling and soldierly about this dog, which especially 
attracted everybody who saw him work. 

Recognizing an appearance of inconsistency, 
considering what has been said in this volume in 
praise of the many superior public winners of 
such breeding, the author should caution ama- 
teurs who contemplate the purchase of young 
Llewellin setters of the fashionable blood repre- 
sented by the descendants of Count Gladstone 
IV and Roderigo. In the characteristic sub- 
families of that blood about two puppies out 
of five will be attractive dogs. The best are 



Choosing a Shooting Dog 183 

delightful realizations of class. But three out of 
five are likely to be insignificant, frivolous, and 
useless to any good sportsman. Why this is a 
fact is a story of some tedium and need not be 
told ; nor has it anything to do with straight 
breeding or inbreeding. It is enough to warn 
readers who are not acquainted with the secrets 
of field trial kennels that it is a fact, and that they 
would better not order from a distance young 
dogs of this fashionable blood without a guaran- 
tee of individual worth. 

In the pointer pedigree, fashion requires Rip 
Rap and Jingo blood. Perhaps extreme fashion 
would be something like this : by King Cyrano, 
Lad of Jingo or Jingo's Light, out of a dam by 
Young Rip Rap, Ripstone, or Plain Sam. For a 
comfortable and reliable shooting dog, I should 
look for the Jingo blood crossed on the best of 
the Croxteths, say the descendants of Trinket's 
Bang or Ossian. 

It may be useful for an amateur to know that 
there are differences in temper, among not only 
individuals, but breeds. Irish and Gordon frailty 
in preserving their good humor may partly ac- 
count for their lower degree of popularity. Gor- 
dons are the most uncertain of temper, Irish next, 
then pointers; and English setters are the most 
cheerful with friend or foe. A Gordon is likely 
to be morose and sulky under correction, often 



184 The Sporting Dog 

showing resentment for a long time afterwards. 
At the other extreme, an EngUsh setter usually 
takes reproof amiably, jumps up gayly, and forgets 
his grief. 

To sum it up, whether of one breed or one 
strain or another, you should look for moral stam- 
ina, nervous energy, and proper physical propor- 
tions. Next demand beauty and breediness, and 
lastly insist on pedigree. If you can get these 
qualities, you have a dog as good as anybody's, 
no matter in what company you shoot. 

One scientific and practical reason for demand- 
ing a pedigree lies entirely apart from mere fashion 
and prestige, and rests upon what might be called 
the potentiality of inheritance. 

Every man who has had occasion to employ 
large numbers of men or women has more or 
less clearly perceived the strange abruptness with 
which an individual will come up against the 
limit of his or her powers, a limit beyond which 
further development is hopeless. In my own pro- 
fession I have employed several hundred young 
men and women. I may be allowed to say that 
they were, as people go, of select intellectual 
abilities. Time and time again I have been 
startled at the suddenness with which the limit 
would be reached ; and at the utter impossibility 
of carrying capacity a step beyond that point. 

Last year I asked Dr. Stanley Hall of Clark 



Choosing a Shooting Dog 185 

University, one of my boyhood's teachers, whether 
this period marking the cessation of mental de- 
velopment had ever been made the subject of 
special study by a competent expert. Dr. Hall, 
who, as his old pupils are proud to know, is the 
first of American authorities on child develop- 
ment, answered that no investigation of conse- 
quence had ever been applied to this period. I 
take it for granted, therefore, that it is still an 
untilled field. One can easily understand the 
difficulties of conducting such an investigation; 
yet the results would be of definitely more value 
than any amount of child study, especially since 
they might lead to a discovery of the indicia 
which in childhood foreshadow the limitations of 
development. 

However this may all be, as a proposition in 
general science, it is certain that in a pedigree 
of high performers there lie possibilities of devel- 
opment. It is hard to tell in the case of a puppy, 
even up to a year old, just what direction devel- 
opment will take or how far it can be carried. 
A half-bred yearling horse may have all the 
appearance and action of a thoroughbred and 
may entice the unwary sportsman into the ex- 
pense of training, but in a race at anything over 
half a mile the cold element will show itself. 
Puppies of poor breeding are often handsome, 
active, and attractive; and those of the highest 



1 86 The Sporting Dog 

breeding are often common in appearance in the 
early stages. At maturity the poorly bred will 
become common, and those of champion ancestry 
will show their blood. There is a strong proba- 
bility that the latter will go on improving for a 
long time, and that the former will stop short 
and often go backward after a certain limit is 
reached. 

It is hardly necessary to say that this does not 
constitute an invariable rule and that, like most 
dogmas which relate to living creatures, it is 
subject to many exceptions and variations. But 
Jthe percentage of probabilities is immensely on 
the side of the good pedigree. The qualities 
of the great ancestors are likely to ripen into 
power ; maybe a little late, but, on the other hand, 
maybe a little better for not being precocious. 
If a matured dog is good through and through, 
he makes his own pedigree. But I should never 
think twice of a young one which had not a 
pedigree of public performers. Private tales of 
untested, unwitnessed performances need too 
much verification, about as much as a mother's 
baby yarns. Public competition alone is the basis 
of value in a pedigree. 



CHAPTER XIV 

THE DOGS THEY PREFER 

If I were the reader and somebody else tKe 
writer, I should find most of pleasure in this chap- 
ter and that on foxhounds. 

When reading articles on the comparative 
merits of sporting-dog breeds and individuals, I 
have usually been annoyed by soon perceiving a 
narrowness of view and a limited experience. It 
may be the fact that every man's natural limita- 
tions make him narrow. However that may be, 
I am cheerfully willing to confess that my own 
experience is not all of the world. To furnish 
the reader with the results of competent observa- 
tion by disinterested followers of field sport in 
different parts of America, I have asked some 
representative sportsmen to let me give their 
views of what a shooting dog should be. 

Mr. Harry R. Edwards of Cleveland, Mr. H. 
Marshall Graydon of London, Canada, and Mr. 
Martin Voorhees of St. Louis are three hard- 
going and genuine amateur field shots. Mr. Ed- 
wards shoots in Ohio and also on his preserve 
in North Carolina and other parts of the South, 

187 



1 88 The Sporting Dog 

What he says was written to me in a private let- 
ter some time ago. He at first refused, but finally 
gave me permission to make it part of this volume. 
To those who do not know Mr. Edwards I may 
say that he is a modest gentleman who would be 
the last to extol his own dogs or discuss in public 
his personal recreations. Just as I esteem the 
privilege of his acquaintance, the young reader 
seeking information should esteem the unaffected 
recital of a thorough sportsman's progress from 
unsatisfactory to wholly enjoyable dogs. To 
some it may be an introduction to say that Mr. 
Devereux, the friend and associate mentioned in 
Mr. Edwards's letter, is the foremost amateur 
reinsman of America. 

Mr. Graydon tells of what he has discovered 
about the kind of dogs to suit the Canada coun- 
try in which he lives. Mr. Voorhees has shot 
chiefly in Missouri, Southern Illinois, and the 
South bordering on the Mississippi. He is a 
superb shot and uncompromising about the effi- 
ciency of his pointers and setters. 

All three have shot over dogs of low and high 
degree. Each has seen his private shooting dogs 
win field trials. The distilled result of their ex- 
perience appears here for the benefit of amateurs 
whose opportunities with dogs and on game are 
just beginning. 

Following them is Mr. P. H. Bryson, the owner 



The Dogs they Prefer 189 

of Gladstone from the dog's puppyhood to his 
death. Mr. Bryson has judged at numerous 
bench shows and field trials, and has seen 
numbers more, besides his private shooting every 
year, which began before there was a Llewellin 
setter or a field trial pointer in the world. In 
many treasured private conversations Mr. Bryson 
has told me about the dogs he has known. When 
I began this account of the sporting dog's devel- 
opment in America, I at once asked Mr. Bryson 
to make a comparative study of Llewellin setters, 
taking Gladstone, the foundation of the Ameri- 
can type, as the basis of comparison. The vet- 
eran sportsman courteously agreed, and I have 
the pleasure of putting in permanent form the 
ripened conclusion of his varied studies. 

TRIAL WINNERS AS SHOOTING DOGS 

By Mr.- Harry R. Edwards of Cleveland 

Some ten years ago Mr. H. K. Devereux and I 
went to Mason, Tennessee, at the invitation of 
Dr. Maclin. We had borrowed four dogs. Like 
most shooting dogs, they were worthless. 

Mr. Devereux had a dog called Spot Cash, one 
of the great Vanguard-Georgia Belle litter, in 
the hands of George Gray. We went to Grand 
Junction to see Spot Cash run, and took Dr. 
Maclin with us, as Devereux had purchased Spot 
Cash from the doctor. 



190 The Sporting Dog 

I purchased Trap Jr. from Gray, and she was 
the first good dog I ever owned. I also purchased 
a Dan Burges puppy called Harvard. The winter 
following Devereux and myself shot over Trap 
Jr. and Spot Cash and for many years thereafter. 
Spot Cash had been classed a bolter. Yet after a 
little shooting he developed into a first-class 
shooting dog. Trap Jr. had every quality she 
should have had and was an ideal shooting dog. 
Harvard started at Bicknell, Indiana, and was 
not placed. The next winter we used him to 
shoot over. As he developed such speed, range, 
and bird-finding ability, we decided to start him 
in the all-age stakes. In the meantime I had 
bought Harwick, and in 1896 at West Point he 
ran second to Tory Fashion and was regarded as 
high in class as any dog out that year. The sea- 
son following, 1897 and 1898, I started Harvard 
and Harwick. Gray had them both, and at the 
same time handled Marie's Sport and Harold 
Skimpole. Harvard lacked in style and could 
not be classed with the other three. Harwick 
had broken a leg as a puppy and this handicap 
forbade placing him that season. Ever since 
1896 I have hunted over Harvard and have yet 
to see a dog to beat him in giving you an oppor- 
tunity to shoot. He proved to be what I term a 
meat dog. 

In 1898 Gray placed Harwick third in the 



The Dogs tbey Prefer 191 

all-age at West Point. That year, and for several 
years after, I shot over Harwick, and cannot im- 
agine a more attractive dog. He had been spoken 
of as a bolter. The first time I had him out in 
Ohio in a very close country, he adapted himself 
to the conditions and hunted absolutely to the 
gun. I well remember being out with some Ohio 
sportsmen in the Western part of this state. We 
had a large party, and a number of dogs well re- 
garded by their owners. One evening some one 
said he did not have any use for a field trial dog. 
A friend of mine spoke up and said, " To-morrow 
I wish you all to come with Mr. Edwards for an 
hour and see two field trial dogs work." Seven 
men went out in the party. I took Harvard and 
Harwick. Notwithstanding the seven guns, these 
two dogs did perfect work and the gentlemen 
said they had never seen a good dog before. 

I bred Harwick to Dan's Lady when Johnson 
had her, and for the service received two pups, 
one of which was Uncle B. Gray did not think 
well enough of him to train for the Derby, but 
afterwards entered him in all-age stakes, and you 
are familiar with his record. Mr. Devereux told 
me to breed Trap Jr. to Marie's Sport. I said, 
" No, sir, I have just as good a dog, namely, 
Harwick." Trap Jr. had by Harwick three pup- 
pies. Two I sold. The third was Colonel R. 
If there has been anything out of higher class in 



192 The Sporting Dog 

the last few years, I don't know. When he won, 
he did not give the judges, any chance to dispute, 
and I have always been sorry he could not start 
in the championship in 1900, owing to having 
cut his leg in a wire fence. I gave Mr. Devereux 
a half-interest in Uncle B. We ran him in the 
all-age stakes for the ensuing two years. For 
this reason I have not shot over him as much as 
over Colonel R. As regards Uncle B., I would 
say that he makes a superior shooting dog and is 
very tractable. He was never taught to retrieve, 
but picked it up naturally. Owing to the many 
years' handling in field trials, he is given to go 
until he finds birds, and the first season I hunted 
over him he did not hunt to the gun. Afterwards 
he worked all right, and it is a pleasure to shoot 
over him. He knows where to look for birds, and 
I feel sorry for a man who cannot make a bag 
over him. 

Colonel R. went so fast in his Derby and all- 
age form that Gray doubted whether he could be 
taught to restrain his speed and adapt himself to 
what is required of a shooting dog. Gray was 
wrong. Colonel R. has developed into the best 
shooting dog I ever saw. He starts off at speed, 
hunts his ground out in a sensible way, does not 
come in to you, and holds up as well as any dog I 
have. Last winter I hunted him four hours a 
day for three weeks, and I could not have asked 




LLEWELLIN. LIGHT TYPE 

Colonel R. By Harwick-Trap, Jr. White-black-tan. Count Noble and Gladstone 
blood, with line to Ethan Allen native setters. One of the most brilliant of field- 
trial performers. Owned by Mr. Harry R. Edwards. Cleveland, Ohio- Representative 
of the rangy, wiry field-trial Liewellins which Laverack men dislike, but which field- 
trial handlers eagerly seek on account of their class and stamina. 



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LLEWELLIN-LAVERACK. 



LARGE TYPE 

Weight over sixty pounds. 



Topgallant. By Roy of London-Fanny. Blue belton. 
Winner of the North American Derby (Ontario). 1900. Llewellin blood through 
Champion Paris (five crosses); Laverack through Champion Monk of Furness. Fast 
and steady shooting dog. Owner. Mr. H. Marshall Graydon, London. Canada. One of 
the big, sound, active, intelligent American setters which refute the shallow claim 
that the breed has deteriorated since the early days. Americans have no lack of 
breeding stock from which to get setter size and power, though the general taste, 
in both the States and Canada, favors lighter types. 



The Dogs they Prefer 193 

a dog to show a better advantage. His nose is 
the best, and he minds to perfection. He adapts 
himself to any country he may be in. 

Some two or three years ago I bought Sport's 
Belle. I have hunted over her for the past two 
years, and she, like my other trial winners, is a 
most excellent dog to shoot over. 

I have had some other very good dogs, but to 
my mind they are not to be compared with the 
dogs I have mentioned. In other words, my idea 
of a high-class shooting dog is a dog good enough 
to be placed in the Southern trials. Yet I do not 
think the average sportsman could take a dog 
home after a field trial and use him to shoot over 
without some further training. The average 
sportsman is too eager for game to give a dog a 
fair chance. Mr. Devereux and myself have gone 
South for eleven years, and pretty miuch every 
year Gray has been with us. After a dog was 
through field trial work we would go out with 
Gray, and Gray would handle the dogs, and in 
his care these dogs became accustomed to shoot- 
ing and to the general mix-up that is apt to 
occur when birds get up and several are killed 
or wounded. Always in the fall in Ohio, Mr. 
Devereux and myself handle the dogs alone. In 
this manner they have been accustomed to be 
shot over, and have made practical shooting dogs. 

Harwick, Uncle B., Colonel R. and Sport's 



194 The Sporting Dog 

Belle are all dogs that mind readily and do not 
have to be corrected very often. The very best 
one of the bunch for a sportsman to take out to 
find birds and get them is Colonel R. There 
were very few birds last winter. If we had had 
the ordinary dogs, we would not have had any 
shooting at all. I hunted some three or four 
weeks, and found an average of eight to nine 
bevies a day. To be absolutely honest, I don't 
think the dogs flushed three bevies of birds dur- 
ing these three or four weeks. 

I think that when people rail against field trial 
dogs they are misinformed. A dog to get a place 
in an all-age stake must necessarily have all the 
attributes that go to make a high-class dog. 
Generally speaking, he must be under good con- 
trol. All he needs to make him a first-class 
shooting dog is experience in good hands. 

DOGS FOR CANADA SHOOTING 

By Mr. H. Marshall Graydon of London, Ontario 

You ask me for expression of opinion on the 
kind of dogs that are best suited for field work on 
the birds usually found in Western Ontario, and 
in reply I would say that, as quail are much the 
most abundant of our upland game birds, a wide- 
ranging dog, with considerable speed, so applied 
that he is always hunting for birds and at the 



The Dogs tbey Prefer 195 

same time is hunting them not for his own amuse- 
ment but to the gun, is the most effective. Of 
course, the term " wide-ranging " is a comparative 
one here, because, while our fields are quite large, 
they are not like the prairies in Manitoba, where 
there is no underbrush and a dog can be seen at 
a great distance. The quail section of this coun- 
try is comprised of wheat stubble and corn-fields, 
with considerable bush land to which the birds 
invariably fly on being flushed, and a dog that 
ranges so widely as to be constantly out of sight 
and out of hand is certainly a disadvantage, 
whereas the same dog might be quite satisfactory 
on prairie land. 

We also have considerable partridge shooting. 
My opinion about a partridge dog is quite con- 
trary to the popular idea. I think the best par- 
tridge dog should be quite fast if he has the 
requisite nose and bird sense to back up his speed. 
I have usually found that when a dog is recom- 
mended as being particularly killing on partridge, 
he is generally a very slow, pottering sort of fel- 
low. I have had considerable experience in par- 
tridge shooting with all kinds of dogs, and I think 
the best dog I ever saw was quite fast. It is 
astonishing, considering the speed with which 
she moved in cover, how few birds she flushed. 
On the other hand, she would find very many 
more than any slow dog I have ever seen. This 



196 The Sporting Dog 

was a very large setter bitch that I sold to Fred 
M. Stevenson of Menominee, Michigan, and if this 
should by any chance catch his eye, I think he 
will approve of what I say. Though she was up 
in years when I sold her to him, she was still a 
wonderful good dog to shoot over. 

Woodcock are not plentiful enough in this 
country for there to be any real cock dogs. 
There are no dogs hereabouts kept for exclusive 
use on woodcock, their experience being limited 
to one or two odd birds that are picked up in a 
day's shooting on quail and partridge. 

Much the same might be said of snipe, for, ex- 
cept along the St. Clair flats, there are very few 
snipe to be found here. 

In reference to the manner in which a dog should 
be broken, while I believe that the more a dog 
is taught the more useful he will be as a shooting 
dog, yet overtraining often takes place, from the 
natural quality of the dog himself. For a field 
trial dog, of course, I do not advocate such a high 
degree of training as for a shooting dog. I think 
a field trial dog should be taught to be only obedi- 
ent to whistle and motion of hand, to point and 
back stanchly, and let his other natural qualities de- 
velop themselves. He will be a more brilliant dog 
than if taught to be too dependent upon his hand- 
lers. On the other hand, for field shooting, in my 
opinion, a dog that retrieves is much more killing 



The Dogs they Prefer 197 

than one that does not. All things being equal, 
the more thorough his yard training the more 
useful he will be, provided he is given enough 
experience on game to make him self-reliant and 
clever in finding and locating birds. Nothing 
will make a dog so clever as actual experience 
on game. I have seen several instances of un- 
trained and half-bred mongrels owned in the 
country that, from constant opportunities to hunt 
birds, were really much more shrewd in finding, 
and in a day's hunt would probably have many 
more points to their credit than better bred and 
broken dogs which city sportsmen might hunt side 
by side with them. Had the better bred or better 
broken dogs the same opportunities, I think they 
would probably be much superior. As dogs can- 
not make opportunities for themselves, I believe 
that it is more the opportunities that make the 
dog. 

HOW MUCH BREAKING? 
By Mr. Martin Voorhees of St. Louis 

You ask me how much I think shooting dogs 
should be broken to be most effective and agree- 
able ; also what my requirements are of them. 

In the first place I am, as might be expected, 
very particular about my dog having a good nose. 
Then I exact stanchness ; naturally, the steadier the 
dog on point, when he is also brimful of nervous, 



198 The Sporting Dog 

excitable energy, the better I like him, but he must 
have the latter requisite. A dog that just potters 
through his work won't answer my purpose. I 
should much prefer to have him flush occasionally. 
I am a special admirer of a high head, style, and 
speed. There is nothing I disHke more than to 
see a dog get his nose to the ground and " wiggle 
and fiddle " along until he has located his game. 

Ranging ground with judgment probably wins 
me as quickly as anything else. I have known 
dogs which were always within sight in close, 
thick cover, working with energy and dash, but 
the moment I would go to the open were off at 
lightning speed, with no field too large for them. 
This I call hunting to the gun ; and must acknowl- 
edge that I am a crank on the subject. 

As to training, I want a dog absolutely steady 
to shot and wing, backing at sight ; and the 
promptness of his " bidability " appeals to me. I 
do not require retrieving, but, of course, much 
prefer it if it does not interfere with other more 
important qualities. 

This amount of breaking is all I wish, and, in 
my judgment, all that a dog can stand and still 
retain those high natural qualities which I feel to 
be so necessary. 

It is my opinion that I have shot over as many 
overtrained dogs as dogs lacking education. 

Blood lines and field superiority are far ahead 



The Dogs they Prefer 199 

of size and appearance to me. Of course I 
wouldn't care to be on record as saying that I do 
not admire the long square-muzzled, gazelle-eyed, 
silky-haired beauties, but I wouldn't feed the 
handsomest that ever bustled on this fitful earth 
that wasn't a worker in the field. 

LATER LLEWELLINS COMPARED WITH GLADSTONE 

By Mr. P. H. Bryson of Memphis 

Having seen the first field trial ever held in the 
United States and next to the last (at Grand 
Junction, January 20, 1903), and most of those 
held at intervening dates, owning no dogs now, 
and not being interested in any that are bred, 
what I say about English setters is an unbiassed 
opinion. This opinion has been formed after 
many years attending bench shows and field trials 
and breeding English setters. 

Starting with my ownership of Gladstone, con- 
ceded to be superlative by almost all those who 
saw him, and taking him as my standard to judge 
those that followed him, I would state that from a 
field trial standpoint, in short heats of one to two 
hours, I have seen dogs I thought his equals. 
These dogs were used only as field trial dogs, run 
in short heats, and always kept on edge for ex- 
hibition purposes. Gladstone was used during 
the shooting season on all day or longer hunts, 



200 The Sporting Dog 

and as an all-round shooting dog on quail, snipe, 
woodcock, and prairie chickens. While he had 
more experience on quail, I never shot a gun over 
a better snipe dog. The woodcock shooting over 
him was in February as they came along on their 
northward flight ; these migrants being met with 
in shooting quail in that month. His chicken ex- 
perience was not so great as that of dogs kept in 
a chicken country ; still, he was as good as one 
would wish in that line. He possessed nose, 
natural sense, style, speed, and endurance ; more 
of the last quality than any dog I ever saw hunt a 
whole day. He was used as a retriever for all 
kinds of game and did his work well. 

Gladstone's Boy had all the qualities of his 
famous sire, except that he did not have quite as 
much speed and style. Had he been kept and 
used as a field trial dog, instead of a shooting dog 
to shoot over in all kinds of weather and all day 
for a week at a time, he would have been invin- 
cible in that role. He did not have the variety 
of style of his sire. His points were stylish, 
but like one another. He came the nearest of 
quitting even with Gladstone in an all-day hunt 
among all the dogs I ever saw go in the field with 
the old fellow, and they met often in a friendly all- 
day hunt. 

Gath was the best field trial dog in my opinion 
that ever ran in the United States. He was 



The Dogs they Prefer 201 

poorly raised and did not have the nourishment 
he needed when growing. Hence he had not the 
strength of a dog better treated when a puppy. 
Then he came in contact with Sue, one of the 
best as well as one of the most cunning dogs on 
birds that ever entered a field. Her experience 
and cunning, she having more of both when Gath 
was hunted with her, caused Gath to run " under 
a hack " when he met her and others in Mr. 
Short's hands, who handled Gath in his second 
year. I saw Gath and Gladstone in all-day hunts, 
and Gladstone never turned a trick but Gath was 
ready with the next. 

Roderigo I regarded as rating close up to Gath 
as a field trial dog. Like most of the sons of 
Count Noble, he would false point considerably 
when he was tired. He had the dash and vim of 
Gladstone on game. Gath, on the other hand, 
had the speed and range of any dog, and worked 
like a well-oiled piece of machinery; and in his 
maturity would go away from Sue and dogs that 
had met him as an inexperienced puppy. Nothing 
seemed to ruffle him then, and he always carried 
his head to work with his heels. Unlike Sue, he 
never used his brains to rob an opponent of any 
honest work, but he needed no coaching to do his 
work well. His dying young was a great loss to 
setter breeders. 

Gath's Mark was another great dog showing 



202 The Sporting Dog 

Gladstone's qualities. Had he fallen into hands 
that would have used him for field trial purposes, 
he would have been among the crowned kings of 
the setter world. His owner used him for every 
conceivable purpose, from chasing pigs to hunting 
rabbits with hounds. With all these drawbacks, 
he was a hard dog to beat at the trials. He had 
speed, range, nose, and bird sense, and always used 
the latter. 

Rodfield resembled Gladstone in appearance 
more than any dog I ever saw. Indeed, he was 
like a twin brother in appearance. His record as 
a field trial dog is too well known to mention 
here. When I saw him at the St. Louis show, I 
advised my friends to breed to him. 

Antonio was very much like Gladstone in 
appearance and manner of hunting his ground. 
He did not put the electricity into his hunt like 
Gladstone and Roderigo, but, to use a street ex- 
pression, he " got there all the same." He was a 
great bird finder and no hot corner in a field trial 
ruffled him in the least. His style was much like 
Gath's in handling game. No dog he ever met 
quit with a better score than he made on game. 
He had bird sense, speed, nose, endurance, and 
style ; though, as stated, he was not the equal of 
Gladstone or Roderigo. Like Gladstone, Gath, 
and Roderigo, he had great stride, and ran with 
ease, showing no friction when in motion. He 



The Dogs they Prefer 203 

got over the ground much faster than he seemed 
to do. This was apparent when a quick, choppy- 
going dog met him in the same heat. 

Mohawk, one of the latest as well as the best 
dogs of to-day, is of different type from any of 
those I have mentioned. He is handsome, runs 
with ease, and is fast. He approaches his game 
differently. His is more of the feline way of 
stealthiness. He rather creeps into his points 
with little tail action until he smells game. 
Those dogs I first named made most of their point 
work on the run, jumping into their points suddenly 
and positively. 



CHAPTER XV 

ELCHO AND FAUST 

Mr. Charles H. Turner of St. Louis deserves 
a special chapter, even if it must be a short one, in 
any history of American sporting dogs. He was 
the force and substance of the old St. Louis 
Kennel Club ; was, personally, the importer and 
owner of the pointers, Faust, Keswick, and Spin- 
away, and the Irish setters, Elcho and Loo II; 
and was the breeder of the great Irish setter 
bench winner, Berkeley. In the accurate sense 
of the word he may be also called the breeder of 
Joe Jr., the conqueror of Gladstone. Mr. Turner 
has not shot a gun for twenty years and has fallen 
out of the knowledge of the present generation 
of sportsmen. In fact, he was never much known 
in public prints. 

His importation of Elcho is an interesting 
little story of itself. Being a young man of large 
inherited wealth and a keen sportsman, he was 
anxious to get something which might be classed 
as the best. An Irishman in St. Louis had mar- 
ried a young girl who had been the maid of Mr. 
Turner's mother. Like most Irishmen, he was a 

204 



Elcho and Faust 205 

bit of a dog man, and Mr. Turner asked him if 
he knew in Ireland anybody who could select 
the best Irish setter on that side. The Irishman 
promptly gave the name of Mr. Cooper of Cooper 
Hill, Limerick, Ireland. Correspondence with 
Mr. Cooper followed. A bench show was on 
hand at Dublin, and to that show Mr. Oppen- 
heimer, then living in Russia, had sent the young 
dog, Elcho. Mr. Cooper purchased Elcho and 
the Irish setter bitch, Loo II, for Mr. Turner, and 
sent them over. Elcho was a beautiful dog of 
rich color and by far the best Irish setter from a 
bench-show standpoint that had been seen in 
America. His field qualities, however, were not 
first-class, and Mr. Turner sold him to Dr. Jarvis 
of Vermont, after getting from his loins the great 
bench-show dog, Berkeley, which Mr. Turner sold 
for j^iooo to Mr. A. H. Moore of Philadelphia. 
Berkeley was a good dog in the field, but lacked 
style on point, nearly always dropping. A paint- 
ing of Berkeley, by Tracy, still adorns the breeder's 
library. 

Mr. Turner imported Erin and Thor from 
Ireland. Erin was a dog of high field quality, 
but of very bad temper. On one occasion he 
attacked Mr. C. B. Whitford, who was his trainer, 
and Mr. Whitford was compelled to knock him 
down with a piece of fence rail. Mr. Turner 
thinks that Erin was never quite the same dog 



2o6 The Sporting Dog 

afterward, though" he found no fault with Mr. Whit- 
ford, who had been compelled to defend himself. 

Thor Mr. Turner regards as beyond compari- 
son the best field dog among the many Irish of 
which he had knowledge. This dog could not 
win on the bench, as he had, like many Irish set- 
ters of that time, a white line down his face and 
considerable white on his breast and feet. As a 
field dog Thor was fully able to compete with the 
great pointers which Mr. Turner had by that time 
brought over. He was sold to General Shattuc 
of Cincinnati. 

Before his parting with Elcho, the Campbells 
of Tennessee, who were related to Mr. Turner by 
marriage, got from him permission to breed their 
English setter. Buck Jr. When Buck Jr. arrived, 
Mr. Turner started out to his kennel with her in 
a buggy. On the way she escaped and came 
near having an affaire d'amour with a shaggy 
Newfoundland. Thus Joe Jr. barely missed not 
being born, or being born half Newfoundland. 

Mr. Turner entered into correspondence with 
the famous pointer breeder of England, Pilking- 
ton, and imported Faust, then regarded as the 
greatest pointer in that country. Faust was an 
extremely intelligent dog, strong in the body, but 
rather short-legged as compared with his kennel 
companion. Champion Bow, which was imported 
by other members of the St. Louis Kennel Club. 



Elcho and Faust 207 

On account of the dog's intelligence and attrac- 
tiveness, Mr. Turner kept Faust at his own home 
a great deal of the time. 

A year or two later Colonel Hughes of St. 
Louis, now of Denver, developed an interest in 
pointers, and in his behalf Mr. Turner sent over 
to Pilkington for a brace of dogs. The latter 
quoted to him Meteor and Maxim at $700 for 
the brace, saying to Mr. Turner that Meteor was 
the best young dog in England, but that, being 
a sheep-killer, and for no other reason, the dog 
could be spared for America. Mr. Turner ordered 
the brace for Colonel Hughes, but they arrived 
in bad condition from their voyage, and Colonel 
Hughes declined to accept them. A few days 
later he changed his mind, and the dogs became 
his property. Meteor never developed, Mr. Turner 
says, any sheep-killing tendencies on this side. 
He was regarded as a small dog for those times, 
though he weighed several pounds above the 
light-weight limit of fifty-five pounds. If Jingo's 
Light, one of the present fashions in the United 
States, had come along at that period, he would 
probably have been shot for being dwarfish. He 
weighs only forty-eight pounds. Though smaller 
than Faust and Bow, Meteor developed such field 
quality that his owner and friends were fully sat- 
isfied, and he became one of the pillars of pointer 
breeding in this country. 



2o8 The Sporting Dog 

These dogs, imported by Mr. Turner and his 
St. Louis friends, mark an era in training. Before 
that time, at least in the central West, no such 
finish had ever been given to the education of field 
dogs. Faust, Bow, Meteor, and Maxim were all 
broken almost perfectly by their English handlers. 
They would stay at heel quietly until each was 
ordered out by name. At the sound of the 
whistle they would stop as if shot, to be di- 
rected by the hand to right or left. Their retriev- 
ing was faultless. It was their perfection of 
training which made them a sensation in and 
about St. Louis, as much as their speed and 
bird work. At least two American trainers got 
their inspiration and first reputation from these 
dogs. 

Mr. Turner's name also has an important rela- 
tion to American beagles. He organized a pack 
of beagles, and among others owned Warrior, 
which was the sire of Dorsey's Champion Lee ; 
and Lee was the greatest beagle of his time. Mr. 
Turner describes Warrior as a good rabbit dog, 
but not impressive in looks. He was tan-and- 
white, with short ears, rather a poor head, and 
high on the leg. 

Personally interesting among Mr. Turner's ser- 
vices to the field dog fancy was his discovery of 
Mr. C. B. Whitford. Mr. Whitford was an edu- 
cated and well-bred young New Englander. Mr. 



Elcho and Faust 209 

Turner brought him out into the West and 
made him kennel manager. Mr. Whitford broke 
Berkeley and other young dogs, and handled the 
older ones in the field. 

Mr. Turner is now a connoisseur in porcelains, 
wines, and harness horses, and the proud grand- 
father of three handsome children. He still 
retains, however, some of the fire of his old inter- 
est in bird dogs, and his strong memory enables 
him to recall most agreeably the incidents of 
the '70's. 



CHAPTER XVI 

CLASS 

Amateurs whose experience in sporting dogs 
is just beginning are likely to be puzzled by the 
constant use of the word " class " in public prints 
and in the private discussions of the sophisticated. 

In its application to bench-show exhibits the 
word is not so difficult to understand. Those 
who so use it generally mean one of two things, 
either that the specimen under consideration has 
a general distinction of appearance which is 
better expressed by the word " quality," or that 
the typical points regarded as essential by the 
specialists are present to an extent which over- 
shadows minor defects. For example, in the case 
of a pointer, a general smoothness of finish and 
symmetry of parts might produce an impression 
of class, though small defects of detail would im- 
press one who was following the rules as he had 
read them in the books. In setters I might cite 
the example of a noted winner, the orange belton, 
Queen's Place Pride. This Laverack had un- 
doubted class. Her coat, color, and finish were 
beautiful, and her head and expression remark- 



Class 111 

ably fine. Her class was apparent to the most 
negligent observer, but she had important defects 
of structure — being decidedly out at elbows and 
over long and flat in body. It was her superb 
class which enabled her to defeat a great many 
setters which, according to a tape-line scoring, 
might have outpointed her. 

But it is in comparing the work of dogs in the 
field that the word is used in so many senses 
which puzzle the amateur. Some men speak 
of class when they have in mind nothing but 
speed and range. Those, however, who are care- 
ful about meanings employ the term to desig- 
nate a high degree of ability in all the essentials 
of performance. That is the only accurate 
application. 

Coming to definitions, class means the ability 
to do at high speed and with rapid accuracy what 
the mediocre can do only with deliberation, slowly, 
and under favorable circumstances. In addition 
to this definition a strict judge might add that 
class includes the doing naturally and with little 
practice what an ordinary specimen can do only 
as a result of severe education. 

Just why class in the field is attractive to most 
men and especially to Americans is something 
which is explained in the remark of the old fox- 
hunter, who said, " I don't keer much for these 
extry fast hounds, but I always feel a little better 



212 The Sporting Dog 

when old Brag is out in front." Hardly one man 
in four will say, theoretically, that he admires par- 
ticularly fast dogs ; but three out of four will look 
for the fastest dog they can find when they are 
either buying outside or selecting one of their 
own breeding for personal use. This means 
merely that the American does not propose to 
see some other man's dogs taking the lead from 
his in a fox-hunt or working on the outside in a 
quail expedition. 

Class is the same attribute in all competitions, 
whether of men or animals. It is of such basic 
importance in the search for truth that anything 
is worth while which illuminates or illustrates. 

Begin with man. To bring out a plain illustra- 
tion let me say that, allowing for the obvious pos- 
sibility of a mistake, the finest mind which I ever 
had the pleasure of seeing at work was that of the 
late Jay Gould. I have never found reason for 
modifying the opinion, though I have been at 
close quarters with two Presidents of the United 
States, several convention candidates for that 
high honor and a number of possibilities, twenty 
or thirty college presidents, and not a few national 
authorities on various subjects, not to mention a 
hundred or so of successful authors. I saw Mr. 
Gould but once, and then for probably not more 
than thirty minutes. My professional duties placed 
me where I listened to his view of a question then 



Class 213 

extensively interesting the West, involving many- 
side topics of commerce, transportation, and poli- 
tics. To this day the beauty — I use the word 
with matured appreciation — of that wonderful 
mental machine in action comes vividly to my 
memory. Without apparent effort, in a low voice, 
and not once "false pointing," he described, meas- 
ured, compared, selected, rejected, and welded; 
bringing into view, not only the general facts 
and arguments ordinarily connected with the 
subject, but a vast array of material which indi- 
rectly had to do with its settlement; touching 
upon statutes, human enthusiasms and prejudices, 
necessities and rules of commercial development, 
transportation, building of cities, and the momen- 
tums and checks which in alternate periods stimu- 
late or retard investment. His mental process was 
extremely rapid but frictionless and conducted with 
unswerving precision. A clarification which the 
average educated man would painfully and, in all 
likelihood, confusedly reach after a couple of days' 
study he seemed able to attain in ten minutes by 
that insight which with direct celerity seizes and 
measures the essential. 

You cannot call such mental action hasty or 
hurried. It is well within itself, and is as reliably 
accurate as the slowest operation of a lesser mind. 
In other words, it is class. 

Jacob Schaefer is an example of class among 



214 The Sporting Dog 

billiard players. I never saw Schaefer in a great 
match, but I have seen him give big odds to a 
good amateur. He played with almost unnatural 
rapidity. The stroke came as quickly as he could 
get the cue in position ; yet it would be foolish- 
ness to suppose that his play lacked any accuracy, 
or that he was at all in doubt as to the result of 
each calculation. 

Cesar Thomson will transcribe a set of awkward 
violin runs into octaves and tenths and play them 
with added velocity. Yet, his pupils tell me, he 
practises less than any other great fiddler. 

Put a first-rate professional baseball player on 
the bases. Some might suppose that his apparent 
willingness to take chances was only blind and 
reckless daring, when, in fact, his perception of 
where he is coming out is much more definite, 
and his adjustment of capacity to the task much 
more scientific than can be predicated of the 
cautious and hesitating player in the tenth-rate 
team. 

These illustrations make plain, at least to me, 
what is meant by class when the term is intelli- 
gently used. Now see how it works in our study 
of dogs. It is often true that the foxhound which 
habitually goes out in front does not do it because 
he possesses the higher order of mere speed. 
The fact is more likely to be that he can use his 
fox sense and can rely upon his nose when going 



Class 215 

at a great pace. While the dog of lower grade 
may be able to run faster, simply as a matter of 
running, he cannot carry his head and nose with 
him when under severe exertion. I have seen 
greyhounds of great speed which did not dare 
extend themselves, because they had discovered 
that they could not score except at a moderate 
gait. On the other hand, a dog like Diana or 
her sister Melita could " sit down " behind a jack- 
rabbit and score just as fast as he could make 
moves — let him do his utmost. 

One day, after the setter, Sport's Boy, had given 
a not very good account of himself in a public 
trial, — a case of " rabbit rattles," — I went out 
into the country with Mr. Askins, his trainer, 
to give the string of dogs some work. Sport's 
Boy and another dog were put down in a large 
field. A ravine, probably a quarter of a mile 
long, ran through the centre of the field. The 
other dog, a very good animal, began ranging 
across the field. Boy started straight for the 
ravine, running the full length of it at lightning 
speed and coming down the other side. When 
halfway down he stopped as if changed to stone, 
never slackening his speed until he jumped into 
the point. He hesitated two or three seconds, 
moved his tail slightly, as a dog usually expresses 
doubt, and turned around sharply to the right. 
Without lowering his head or showing the slight- 



2i6 The Sporting Dog 

est indecision after the first moment of doubt, 
he marched thirty or forty feet and stiffened to 
a stanch point on a large bevy of birds. Some- 
body will say that any dog would do that. I say 
that any dog which did it would be a high-class 
dog. In the first place, there was the speed at 
which the whole performance was acted ; in the 
second place, there was the instinct by which he 
chose the ravine as the place most likely to harbor 
birds ; in the third place, there was the bird sense 
with which he skirted the ravine instead of wast- 
ing time in searching out particular spots ; in the 
fourth place, was the instantaneousness with which 
his nose told him of the scent of birds ; in the 
fifth place, was the quickness with which he rec- 
ognized that he had felt only the scent of where 
birds had been ; and, in the sixth place, was the 
positiveness with which he went straight on body 
scent to where the birds were. The other dog 
was a much more than ordinary animal and a few 
minutes later might have done exactly what Boy 
did. But the fact remains that he did not do 
it, and that the coming champion, with equal 
chances, beat him in the whole series of acts lead- 
ing to the location of a bevy. 

One of the best exhibitions of class shining 
through disadvantages was that of the Llewellin 
setter, Joe Gumming, when he won his champion- 
ship. This performance brings up a story which 



Class 2 1 7 

I have never seen in print. In the final heat of 
this championship stake Joe Ciimming was to 
run for first with Dave Earl. Joe had severely- 
injured his foot, and Mr. Titus, his owner and 
handler, who was always tender-hearted with his 
dogs, decided to draw him. The judges, however, 
were anxious to have the dog finish the competi- 
tion, and Mr. Titus's friends persuaded him to let 
Joe go on as long as there was a fighting chance. 
The development showed how closely a dog can 
come to winning a championship without reach- 
ing the honor. This was the fortune of Dave 
Earl. When they were put down Joe went lame 
for a few minutes, but soon warmed up, forgot his 
foot, and began to show nearly his fastest and best 
form. At that, handicapped as Joe was, Dave 
Earl had a shade the best of the heat and seemed 
likely to win the championship. It was a long 
three hours for an injured dog which was com- 
pelled to show championship speed and bird 
work. Toward the end of the heat Dave Earl 
ranged up to a clump of bushes, nosed at it an 
instant, and passed on. A few minutes later Joe 
Gumming swung over to the same clump of 
bushes, hesitated, dashed around to the leeward, 
and made a stanch point on a bevy. Of course, 
nothing is a more decisive incident in a field trial 
than when one dog misses a find and the other, 
with precisely the same opportunities, makes a 



21 8 The Sporting Dog 

location. Consequently, as the dogs were not far 
apart in other respects, the decision and the 
championship went to Joe Gumming. 

King Cyrano, the orange-and-white son of 
Jingo, is a pointer which always impressed me 
particularly with his class, for the reason that, 
even when he first appeared in his Derby year, he 
was what a field trial man would call badly over- 
trained. His trainer, Mr. Updike, had been pre- 
viously giving his entire attention to shooting 
dogs and was probably the most finished trainer 
in the West. All of his dogs at that time obeyed 
the slightest order and retrieved with perfect 
manners. A dog which, after such an elaborate 
course of training in his youth, could begin by 
winning a Derby and afterward compete success- 
fully with the best dogs in his all-age form must 
have had inherent class of the highest order. In 
his second season I saw him put down with a 
fast pointer. Spring Dot, owned by Mr. Turner of 
Chicago. Cyrano is not a large dog, in fact 
barely up to the average size. That day he 
was going so high that he looked as big as a St. 
Bernard. The two pointers dashed into a large 
weed field where the growth was scanty except in 
one corner. Notwithstanding the speed of his 
competitor, Cyrano swung round the field on the 
outside and then made straight for the heavier 
growth in the corner. There he jumped into a 



Class 1 1 9 

sharp point on a bevy. A few minutes later he 
took a course ahnost touching the fence, on the 
other side of which was a corn-field. He jumped 
again into a quick point, evidently locating the 
birds on the other side of the fence. His handler 
rushed up and threw him over the fence. The 
birds proved to be running. He followed them 
accurately and cautiously, finally bringing them 
to a flush to order two hundred yards from where 
they were first located. The class of the perform- 
ance appears in the fact that the dog evidently 
knew exactly what he was about at all times and 
managed his actions to suit the conditions. High 
speed did not interfere with the accuracy of his 
work. 

In the same trial the Derby dogs, Marse Ben 
and Prince Rodney, gave an attractive exhibition 
of class. Both of these dogs subsequently dis- 
tinguished themselves as worthy of the highest 
consideration. In their Derby year each had a 
fine turn of speed, Rodney the faster. As they 
looked very much alike, they made an attractive 
race. Just after the start Marse Ben swung 
around to the right into a corn-field. I was rid- 
ing on the right and the other judges followed 
Rodney, leaving me to look after Ben. It was 
the year of the great drouth and the field, except 
for the standing corn, was almost as bare as a 
floor. I heard a shout a little behind me to the 



220 The Sporting Dog 

right, which evidently meant that some one saw 
the dog in that direction. I turned my horse 
and rode into the corn. Gilchrist, Ben's handler, 
came running along to take care of his dog. 
While going rapidly through the corn, Ben 
stopped on a stylish point. Two birds got up. 
In puppy fashion he made a jump or two in 
their direction, but quickly changed his mind 
and stopped on another stiff point. The rest of 
the birds soon after flushed in front of him. 
Some outsiders thought that Ben had flushed 
the first two birds either wilfully or from an error 
in judgment in getting too close to them. As a 
matter of fact, the birds flushed wild on account 
of the absence of cover. The dog really made 
a perfect exhibition. Fifteen minutes afterward 
Marse Ben did almost identically the same thing 
in another patch of corn. The birds flushed 
ahead of him, but after he had established his 
point. Just after the judges ordered the dogs 
up, Rodney imitated the performance, jumping 
quickly into a stanch point on a bevy in a corn- 
field almost as bare of under cover as if it had 
been ploughed. One would have to see the pace 
at which these dogs were going and the bareness 
of the corn-fields to appreciate the keen noses and 
cleverness with which they established point on 
body scent. 

If there be an absolute best, field trial history 



Class 221 

would probably give the premium to the per- 
formance of Mr. Herman Duryea's setter, Sioux, 
in her second championship winning. There was 
no competition, as all the other dogs had been 
drawn and she was running with her kennel mate, 
Clip Wind'em. The weather had been rainy the 
day before and had suddenly turned cold, freezing 
the occasional drizzle as it fell and making the 
ground severe for not only the dogs but the 
horses, glassy as it was on the surface. Though 
the mud and rain were frozen all over her legs 
and underbody, the little setter went three hours 
and a half at high speed. When taken up she 
was in a wretched plight, showing the ordeal 
through which she had been put. Birds were 
very plentiful and nobody knows exactly how 
many points she made. The judges counted four- 
teen bevies found by the dogs or flushed by the 
riders, and Sioux must have made at least twenty 
points with only one or two slight and excusable 
errors. 

Most of these incidents refer to dogs in West- 
ern competitions and illustrate the taste of West- 
ern men. None the less, class shows itself even 
in Massachusetts and Connecticut, though it 
takes a somewhat different form where dogs are 
expected to adapt themselves quickly to small 
fields, to the caution of work on ruffed grouse, 
and to the unreliable habits of the jack-snipe. 



222 The Sporting Dog 

My impression is that the alertness, nervous en- 
ergy, and quick intelHgence which make class in 
one part of the country make it in another, and 
that a high-class dog with a little experience is 
high-class anywhere. I can say, at least, that 
when nearly twenty years ago I introduced 
Llewellins to the lower part of the Eastern shore 
of Maryland, a practised amateur who got a very 
fast young dog — for those days — became very 
proud of the animal's ability to outpace the na- 
tives and to find bevies ahead of other men's 
favorites. 

It must be admitted that in the small and 
patchy fields and thickets of the East, obedience 
and caution are more exactingly required. The 
West does, speaking generally, admire speed and 
range, and the East lays stress upon biddableness. 
I find that among the many persons who come to 
me for information and advice this more or less 
general contrast is manifested. During the writ- 
ing of this chapter, a devoted amateur shot, a 
prominent St. Louis physician, dropped in to 
consult me about breeding a bitch. I told him 
that the only dog I had at home was a handsome 
youngster by Sport's Gath, which was promising, 
but rather a shooting dog than a high-class per- 
former. The doctor was much obliged, but con- 
cluded to look further. About the same time a 
gentleman in the East wrote me in regard to two 



Class 223 

young dogs which he bought at my suggestion 
not long ago. He said that in his judgment the 
youngsters were first-class, but that his trainer 
wanted to reject them because they were hard to 
handle. I see that Mr. Buckell has recently 
made a criticism along this line in regard to the 
English field trials. He says that the trainers 
control the entries and that they pick dogs 
which are trained with the least trouble. This 
disposition of the trainers he regards as respon- 
sible for the inferior natural class of the dogs now 
contending in public on that side of the water. 
It is likely that Eastern amateurs will have to 
read their trainers a lecture if they desire dogs 
which are capable of what a Western man would 
call first-rate bevy work and are at the same 
time responsive to command. 

Mohawk, Mr. Duryea's latest crack setter, has 
given two recorded exhibitions of class. In his 
Derby year at the United States trials he was on 
a wide cast, going a great pace, for at all times 
he is one of the fastest of setters. He jumped a 
ditch and in the fraction of a second from the 
take-off of the leap he caught scent. When he 
struck the ground he was flattened on a stiff 
point, his head turned to the bevy. The next 
year, in the same club's all-age stake, he was sev- 
eral hundred yards from Avent, his handler, rang- 
ing at speed. Passing a bushy place, he whipped 



224 The Sporting Dog 

into a quick point, head and stern up. In a 
moment a rabbit jumped out. Mohawk held the 
point. Avent came in sight, signalled the judges, 
and called " Point ! " As the handler reached the 
dog, another rabbit scudded away. Avent began 
to grumble about the luck. The judges reached 
the scene, the dog still immovable, and ordered 
Avent to flush. He told them that the point 
seemed to be on a rabbit. But he walked ahead 
of the dog and flushed a bevy of quail. Here were 
speed, nose, decision, intelligence, and stanchness. 

Everybody's dog does these things except when 
witnesses are present. In public tests, however, 
we must be satisfied with an occasional perform- 
ance in which the whole combination of desir- 
able field qualities is shown to a high degree ; 
and we are glad to have a few to treasure for 
purposes of illustration. 

But the end of the whole matter is that every 
amateur should have a dog to please himself. 
Speaking for one kind of taste, I am not backward 
in saying that, while I admire and appreciate 
these extremely high-class performers when 
owned by other men, my private favorite, even in 
the West, would always be a good-looking and 
stylish dog of medium speed, and not only bird 
sense but intelligence and responsiveness in all 
other respects. This is because I very much 
admire quality and appearance, and because I am 



Class lis 

a moderate walker and rather a poor shot. But 
I have discovered that nine good field shots out 
of ten among amateurs are like the old fox-hunter 
to whom I have referred, and enjoy seeing their 
dogs out-ranging other dogs. If that is their 
enjoyment, they are right, and this analysis of class 
which I have attempted will be of use to them as 
well as to those who desire to measure the work 
in public competitions. 



CHAPTER XVII 



TRAINING AND CARE 



Most writers advise amateurs not to train their 
own shooting dogs, on the principle of eveiy 
man to his trade. In the general interest of field 
education the contrary advice should be given. 
The amateur who trains his own dog may not 
queer the dog, and cannot fail to do himself a 
world of good. It is a fact of statistics that nine 
dogs are well trained for the field where one man 
is qualified to associate with either a dog of good 
field manners or a sportsman of discretion. Grad- 
uates in the school of experience will agree with- 
out dissent that the training of dogs is a lesser 
problem than that of training the men who do the 
shooting. Among the drawbacks of the sport is 
the misfortune that in almost every party there is 
an individual who acts the role of salt in the ice 
cream and fly in the ointment. He yells at every 
new movement of the dog ; he breaks shot ; he 
cannot let the dog retrieve in peace, but must rush 
up and grab the bird ; he will shoot at rabbits and 
larks ; he does everything to make the dog com- 
mit the faults which a year of education has barely 

226 



Training and Care 227 

corrected ; then he spreads reports about your 
"no good" pointers and your cheating trainer. 

There is the man who sends a young dog to a 
trainer; lets the latter work just long enough to 
establish a yard obedience ; writes in a hurry for 
the dog to go on a "hunt"; does not take the 
trouble to learn what methods and orders the 
trainer has used or whether the animal is in a 
physical condition for endurance ; swears at dog 
and trainer because he doesn't find an exact 
machine in work and a trolley car in staying 
power. 

Dogs could do with less schooling if the men 
who used them had more. There would be more 
dogs of the bien eleves class if nobody might shoot 
over them except those who could prove a char- 
acter for at least letting them alone. 

But these corrupters of dog youth are not to be 
exterminated or cured. It is rather a waste of 
time to discourse upon their shortcomings. 

Training dogs for the gun is an art of some de- 
tail, and this chapter can only mention the leading 
principles. If the amateur wishes to master the 
art as it is practised in America, he can find the 
directions in the books of Mr. Waters, or in 
the smaller but excellent treatise of Mr. Haber- 
lein. 

Upon one general proposition I should like to 
lay especial emphasis. It is that a dog should 



228 The Sporting Dog 

have a chance to ripen under experience. Les- 
sons hurriedly crammed do not take deep root in 
either the human or canine mind. Slow develop- 
ment is nearly always the best development. It 
should be the rule, if one desires his dogs to be 
really finished and perfected, to leave them with a 
reliable trainer for two seasons. Some of the best 
dogs reach their form slowly, preserving their 
natural good qualities only by coming under dis- 
cipline without the severity of a rushed education. 
When Mr. Burdett bought Cincinnatus's Pride as 
a young dog, the selection was made on account 
of the dog's beauty and attractive disposition. 
Mr. Burdett expected to get a shooting dog for 
his Southern trips. Richards, I think, was his 
trainer at that time. Mr. Burdett owned Anne 
of Abbotsford, one of the best field trial winners 
of the day. After the trainer had had the two to- 
gether in the Northwest for several months, he 
wrote to Mr. Burdett, saying that, unless he was 
mistaken, he would have a surprise ready in a few 
weeks. A little later came a letter saying that 
Pride was beating Anne in the class of his work. 
Mr. Burdett was indeed surprised and doubtful ; 
but permitted the trainer to have his way, and the 
dog world knows the flashing career of Pride in 
the Southern trials of the next season. 

The pointer, Jingo, was another case of late 
development. In his first experience he had not 



Training and Care 119 

a great deal of speed and almost no style. The 
superficial observer would have called him a good 
reliable shooting prospect. Under sensible train- 
ing he gradually increased his range and speed 
until he reached the form which made him the 
crack pointer in both his Derby and all-age years. 

A finished dog retrieves promptly to order 
from land and water ; " heels " at a word and 
remains until ordered out ; he is quiet in buggy 
or wagon ; respects the whistle and obeys the 
hand of his handler at any distance ; is steady 
to shot and wing ; neglects rabbits and all fur ; 
backs at sight of a decisive point. 

Comparatively few dogs are polished to the 
extent of being perfect in all these respects. 
Field trial work calls for the least allowable 
restraint. In America the tendency is to break 
dogs, even for the gun, as little as comfort and 
efficiency permit. The main proposition is that 
the dog must find birds, and without delay. An 
American shot will pardon mistakes and lack of 
polish ; incompetency, never. Fancy accomplish- 
ments only irritate the American when the "get 
there " abilities are weak. Still, a really educated 
dog does all these things I have named, and does 
them cheerfully. Since American shooting calls 
for a higher class of efficiency than the sport 
demands in Great Britain, it is the more impera- 
tive that a trainer should have plenty of time in 



230 The Sporting Dog 

which to inculcate the self-control of education 
without diminishing range, speed, and zest in the 
search. 

A trainer cannot give knowledge to a dog; 
that comes only with natural intelligence and 
experience. What the trainer does is to estab- 
lish habits contrary to the dog's natural inclina- 
tions. This cannot be done except by lessons 
many, many, many times repeated. The principle 
is stated in the phrase, "steady coercion, sym- 
pathetically applied." 

What the bow is to the fiddler, the hammer to 
the smith, the color-box to the painter, the check- 
cord is to the dog trainer. There are men who 
will tell you that they train by stinging their dogs 
with bird shot when not obedient. Others tell 
you that thumping with a stick, or punching 
with a gun-barrel, or a few kicks in the ribs will 
do the work. For that kind of men that kind of 
training may be all right. A dog often becomes 
good by mere experience in spite of such obsta- 
cles, but his goodness must not be credited to 
the mistake in treatment. The many uses of the 
check-cord combined with the spike collar, need 
not be recited, but, in a general way, the amateur 
can make no mistake if he understands that the 
check-cord is used in establishing nearly all the 
acts which a field dog learns to perform as a part 
of training. With the cord you make a dog 



Training and Care 231 

understand precisely what it is you want him to 
do. If he disobeys or makes a mistake, he realizes 
what you mean when he receives correction. 

Retrieving is the main trouble of the trainer, 
and may be said to include nearly all the other 
things in his repertory. That is, in the course 
of teaching a dog to retrieve, you could incident- 
ally teach him to obey almost any other order. 

The great central rule is to make the dog obey 
one simple command at a time and not confuse 
him with anything else. Patiently compel him 
to follow a simple direction over and over again 
until he connects the order instantly with the act. 
First make him sit on his haunches until he hears 
the word of release ; then make him hold a pad 
in his mouth until similarly relieved ; then make 
him pick it up from the floor ; then fetch it from 
a little distance. After this yard breaking is satis- 
factory, take him in the field and make him go 
through the same performances many times with 
a dead bird. Even then, when he gets under the 
excitement of regular hunting, he will forget the 
lesson. 

Here is where the amateur often demoralizes 
the dog's education. He becomes interested in 
hunting and wants to shoot and get birds. He 
indulges the dog's disobedience and piles up 
trouble for subsequent efforts at education. The 
imperative rule is not to mix up the human desire 



232 The Sporting Dog 

to get game with the process of teaching the dog. 
You must let the birds be entirely secondary until 
the dog retrieves not only reliably but with good 
manners. 

Nowadays, nobody cares for a natural retriever. 
Natural retrieving means that the dog recovers 
birds when he feels like it and that he falls into 
many bad habits. A modern trainer does not 
regard a dog's natural retrieving as having any 
bearing on the subject. The animal must retrieve 
under a force system and strictly to order. 

Many sportsmen do not permit their dogs to 
retrieve, believing that it interferes with the class 
of the work and that it leads to such annoyances 
as the chewing of birds and constant pottering 
after imaginary dead game. Some like to shoot 
with a brace of high-class dogs which do not re- 
trieve and a quiet old chap which does nothing 
else. As a rule, however, the American field 
shot does not own many dogs and insists upon 
retrieving. 

Backing is often naturally or quickly acquired, 
but more often it is a matter of compulsion to 
make a dog promptly recognize another's point. 
Some dogs otherwise excellent are extremely jeal- 
ous, and are unhappy unless they can carry their 
noses a little in front. Llewellin setters are 
especially erratic in this respect. A good trainer 
has his dogs stop quickly at a word or whistle, 



Training and Care 233 

and practises them with a cord in the field until 
they obey without question. The order generally 
consists of some definite word, such as " whoa," 
accompanied with the straight holding up of the 
hand. In this way backing can afterwards be 
quickly taught in actual work; the whistle sig- 
nal to stop being accompanied with the hand 
command. 

Dealing with a timid or gun-shy dog is a neces- 
sary part of the art. It is a fact that a great 
many of the very cleverest dogs, both pointers 
and setters, are at first gun-shy. The usual 
method of treatment is to fire small pistol loads 
around the yard until the dog ceases to pay 
attention. Some trainers use the pistol when- 
ever the dogs are called out to feed. Making 
this a regular practice, young dogs are supposed 
to associate feeding with the noise and do not 
require any special lessons. 

Modern training does not expect a dog to 
" charge " or lie down to shot or wing. The idea 
is that the dog handles his work better if he is 
permitted to observe where the birds go. This, 
however, is a matter of taste and some owners 
still wish their dogs to charge. 

In nearly all American country there is a great 
deal of early annoyance on account of rabbits. 
Many dogs cease of their own accord to pay 
much attention to rabbits after a few birds have 



234 The Sporting Dog 

been shot over them, but as a rule a bird dog will 
point on rabbit. The chief trouble occurs less 
from the rabbits themselves than from the pres- 
ence of scent where rabbits are at all abundant, 
certain dogs being prone to potter over it and 
false point. 

A watchful trainer, with a few sharp orders to 
"go on," is generally able to get rid of this diffi- 
culty after a short time. The main thing is 
never to shoot a rabbit or to pay any attention 
to it yourself. If you do not mind it, a dog will 
not be slow to follow your example. 

Field trial work is handling rather than train- 
ing. The handler endeavors to reach just the 
difficult line where a dog can be directed on a 
course, and still be independent in ranging and 
absorbed in his search. Natural qualities and not 
forced habits are the standards. All that matter 
does not concern the shooting amateur. 

Foxhounds and beagles are not trained. They 
are "entered," or practised, when young, by having 
short runs with the old hounds. The only real 
training is to require the hound to honor the horn, 
and to refrain from riot on the road. 

Greyhound training is a fine art of itself, but 
rather resembles the management of a race- 
horse. The object is not to discipline, but to put 
in the highest possible physical condition. The 
only teaching consists in slipping a few times on 



Training and Care 235 

hares to inculcate readiness in leaving slips and 
in scoring. The trainer avoids unnecessary work 
on hares, as the greyhound is likely to learn too 
much and become "cunning." 

In the matter of caring for dogs the general 
theory is simple. Every dog is naturally a vaga- 
bond and is the better for a bit of opportunity to 
loaf and wander. But in the case of valuable 
animals the liberty is rarely permissible. As far 
as the dog's welfare is concerned, the simplest 
form of kennel is as good as any. That consists 
of a cheap wire fence and a rough board sleeping- 
place. The only necessary points are that the 
sleeping-place be free from draughts, and dry. 
If it can be made deep and dark, the dog will be 
happier. From that provision up to the most 
elaborate and ornate kennel is a matter of the 
owner's taste and has little to do with the good 
of the dog. I would rather have a cheap, rough 
kennel and change it from one piece of ground to 
another at least once a year, than to have the 
most expensive affair so situated that dogs must 
remain on the same ground for many years. If a 
man undertakes to raise puppies, he will find that 
in a year or two one piece of ground becomes a 
hatching-place of distemper and of distemper in 
the worst form. I really believe that it is better 
to leave puppies on the open ground without a 
roof over their heads than to place them in a 



236 The Sporting Dog 

kennel where other dogs have been kept for any 
length of time. The most lavish use of disin- 
fectants will not secure immunity, though it re- 
duces the danger. 

A great physician said last year in a conven- 
tion that with only four medicines nearly all dis- 
eases could be treated in common practice : calo- 
mel, quinine, carbolic acid, and iodide of potash. 
Dogs have exactly the same diseases which afflict 
men, and respond to the same medicines. With 
some changes these four standard medicines are 
all that the owner will ordinarily find necessary. 
The dog physiology is particularly susceptible 
to calomel, and that mineral should never be 
used. Substitute castor oil or cascara for calo- 
mel, and the medicine chest is pretty nearly full, ex- 
cept for santonin and areca nut against the great 
enemy — worms. Santonin is used for young 
dogs and in the case of common worms ; the areca 
nut for tapeworm. Carbolic acid, of course , is 
for external skin troubles and wounds. Salicyl- 
ate of soda should take the place of iodide. It is 
an intestinal disinfectant, or " blood purifier," and 
while not a specific for distemper, is by all odds 
the most valuable among the simple medicines 
so far applied to that disease. The dose is from 
three to eight grains, according to the dog's age, 
three times a day. Hyposulphite of soda is used 
for the same purpose. It would be useful also if 



Training and Care 237 

the owner could have at hand a bottle of salad or 
olive oil. Dogs are prone to eat bones and other 
hard substances, and these cause frequent obstruc- 
tions. The oil is given in wine-glass quantities 
as a lubricant. It has been for years an honored 
belief that dogs should be fed on bones. No 
doubt they can digest bones much better than 
can other domestic animals. Nevertheless, a dog 
risks his life when he swallows sharp-pointed 
bones, and the wise kennelman will not permit 
risks in the case of valuable animals. The well- 
known setter, Kingston, died in that way, and 
hundreds of other deaths can be traced to the 
same cause. 

It is easy to give a dog liquid medicine if one 
person will hold his jaws shut while the other 
pulls out the pouch of the mouth and pours in 
the liquid. 

If there is but one dog, ordinary table scraps 
are the best food. In a large kennel it is better 
to follow the usual greyhound practice of feed- 
ing "stirabout," which in this country consists 
of corn meal thoroughly boiled with some kind 
of cheap meat scraps ; usually, in the West, crack- 
lings from the packing houses. For puppies the 
best food is milk, or soup, thickened with graham 
bread. A very cheap and most useful variation for 
all ages is ordinary beans or peas, thoroughly boiled 
with pork to impart the meat flavor and relish. 



238 The Sporting Dog 

Never use corn meal alone. In fact, it is a poor 
food in any form of mixture if graham bread or 
oatmeal is available. 

In active training field dog men could learn 
a great ' deal from greyhound trainers. There 
are few handlers of shooting dogs who know 
how to get or keep their dogs in good condition. 
For the last week of a greyhound's training and 
when he is at a meeting, he is fed on a manufac- 
tured biscuit in the morning and solid, raw, lean 
beef in the evening. A greyhound seems to 
get both blood condition and nervous energy on 
this feeding, and I have no doubt that a setter, 
or pointer, on the eve of a field trial v/ould come 
to a sharper edge if fed something the same way. 
It is true that a shooting dog or hound should 
not have even half the proportion of meat fed to 
a greyhound in training, but each would be the 
better for more than is commonly allowed. While 
field dogs are not as delicate or as liable to 
suffer from exposure as greyhounds, they have 
their susceptibilities and need some care, other 
than they get at field trials, to guard against 
congestions, exhaustions, and the effects of 
extreme weather. 

In a field trial kennel is usually a tank filled 
with " dip " to destroy fleas and prevent mange. 
The favorite solution — liked because it does 
not hurt the eyes and facilitates the quick work 



Training and Care 239 

of " sousing " the dog, head and all — is lye and 
sulphur. A box of extra strong concentrated 
lye is dissolved and into the water is stirred four 
or five pounds of sulphur over a fire. This mix- 
ture is diluted with about a barrel of water and 
is ready for use. Some kennelmen add an ounce 
or two of sulphuric acid. 

These are the essential accessories of the regu- 
lar kennel. Nothing else needs to be said except 
that it saves money and trouble to call a veteri- 
nary when serious sickness first appears. While 
that advice is good, the owner of a dog should 
also have the books of Dr. Wesley Mills and 
"Ashmont" in his library. 

One crime of the kennel the humane societies 
should place among the objects of their labor. It 
is the severe working of a pregnant female — a 
practice due to a superstition about the hunting 
instinct being strengthened in the pups. After 
the life of the young mammal has once begun, 
all the dam will ever do is to furnish nutrition 
and guard from enemies. Cold science knows 
that a foetus is as much a parasite as a tapeworm. 
Severe work and excitement interfere sadly with 
nutrition, and a bitch so treated is very likely to 
have puppies so weakened that they will develop 
rickets or other diseases. Shun the man who 
would sell you puppies nourished by a mother 
overworked in her pregnancy. He would as 



240 The Sporting Dog 

well be praising blind or idiotic ancestry. Good 
dogs may come from such an unfortunate mother, 
but they do not start with a square chance. 

Another superstition which causes as much 
troublous apprehension to the breeder as any, 
is a belief that when a female is mated with an 
undesirable male, subsequent litters by other 
males are affected. Without going into the rea- 
sons, it may be said conclusively that this is a 
physical impossibility and that breeders need never 
give it a thought. If there were anything in it, 
the Hanover family of race-horses would not be 
thoroughbreds, for Bourbon Belle had a trotting 
colt before she foaled Hanover. 

One more superstition — the mad-dog scare. 
Personally I do not believe that there is such a 
specific disease as hydrophobia from a bite. 
There are tetanus, meningitis, strychnine poison- 
ing, and a rabies which can be communicated by 
contact. In practice such things are all to be 
dreaded. Don't be alarmed about hydrophobia, 
but keep your eye on a dog which begins to act 
queerly. Isolate him, give him a purgative, and 
send for the veterinary. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

BREEDING 

To the " questing intelligence " breeding is 
the main end of all studies in animals. It is 
attractive to mental curiosity because it is both 
momentous and elusive. 

For purposes of biological science there is no 
difference between homo and canis. If the in- 
quirer can discover the operations of cause and 
effect in the heredity of one mammal, the whole 
book of life lies open. So far, however, there is 
not much to tell, — will not be much, now, until 
the biologists work out Mendel's law 

If a purveyor of formulas gives you advice about 
breeding dogs, go your way and take the opposite 
course. In so doing you are as likely to succeed, 
and you will have the satisfaction of being inde- 
pendent and original. 

Everybody has copious opinions about breed- 
ing; nobody has much knowledge. In all trades 
it is so easy to write words of wisdom and 
so hard to pay a dividend ; so easy to see ghosts 
and so hard to make them walk. Commentators 
on the breeding of horses and dogs can construct 

R 241 



242 The Sporting Dog 

more theorems and present more deductions in 
an hour than can be proved in fifty years of 
experiment. 

For it must be remembered that breeding is not 
mathematics, but merely experiment and empiri- 
cism ; that, except within certain broad hmits, 
nobody can tell where a calculation will land. 
John H. Wallace, the trotting horse authority, 
once said that in breeding two and two sometimes 
make four, but often only three. That phrase 
condenses the story as far as it has gone. To 
every breeding formula the answer is : It may be 
so ; sometimes it is and sometimes it isn't. 

There are two broad rules which may be counted 
upon. One is that a breed or variety, in propor- 
tion to the length and thoroughness of its estab- 
lishment, will reproduce its general characteristics. 
The other is that nothing can change within the 
purview of a human generation the essential char- 
acteristics of a genus. Each characteristic can 
only be increased or diminished. None will dis- 
appear and there will not be new ones. For 
example, every animal of the dog tribe, from a 
coyote to St. Bernard, has an acute nose and 
depends much on the olfactory sense for its 
knowledge of objects. Every one of the tribe 
also " points " more or less in approaching hidden 
game, and every one retrieves or carries things 
about in its mouth. These characteristics are 



Breeding 243 

intensified in field dogs ; but any dog can be, if 
its game-hunting instinct has not been too much 
bred away, easily taught to recognize hidden 
game, point, back, and retrieve. In field dogs, 
since these ineradicable nerve habits of all ca- 
nines have been intensified by long years of 
selection, the production of a special aptitude in 
breeding and the development of it in training 
may be forecast with assurance. The same rule 
holds in general physical qualities. Beyond that 
fact not much is predicable. The breeder may 
succeed in getting good dogs, but one would wait 
long to find a dog which at maturity exactly real- 
ized in looks or character the image which was 
before the breeder's mind when he made the mat- 
ing. A phenomenon never reproduces itself; it 
may produce something as good or better, but 
never a fac-simile. So you can't tell about the 
sons of great dogs any more than about the sons 
of great men. 

The making of cut-and-dried systems and rules 
has an almost morbid attraction for both authors 
and audiences. Hundreds of horse breeders be- 
lieve in the " figure " system — a rank absurdity 
in its main propositions and yet having a certain 
valuable attachment of facts and suggestions. 
Some dog breeders have a rule of breeding twice in 
and once out, and some alter the proportions to twice 
out and once in. One of the commonest calcula- 



244 The Sporting Dog 

tions is that if one side of the house is big, the 
other should be Httle, or vice versa ; so with fine 
and coarse. If a man has a potterer, he thinks to 
get the golden mean by breeding to an uncon- 
trollable bolter. The favorite formula among Eng- 
lish setter men is to get into the pedigree fifty per 
cent of Laverack and fifty per cent of Duke-Rhoebe 
blood. I suppose that in a year or two pointer 
men will begin to figure on the same percentages 
with King of Kent and Mainspring. One man 
has childlike faith in the rule of a big dam and a 
small, nervous sire. Another believes in the small 
dam and the big, masculine, rugged sire. Some 
purists hang out a " no trespass " sign against an 
outcross. This has come to be a fetich with many 
field dog breeders, though the Llewellins are the 
result of a sharp outcross and though in pointers 
Mainspring and Rip Rap both came from a cross 
of Devonshire pointers on the Drake and Hamlet 
blood. Another set of breeders are perpetually 
looking for crosses, though the records should tell 
them that a cross, while often useful and necessary, 
is in many more cases a grasping at the shadow 
and losing the substance. 

Inbreeding is a subject of most positive opin- 
ions and most baseless sermonizing. Perhaps 
nine people out of ten believe that inbreeding 
produces puny and degenerate descendants. Like 
other breeding practices, sometimes it does and 



Breeding 245 

sometimes it doesn't. One of the finest families 
of Irish setters, of which the famous Geraldine 
was a member, came originally from an acciden- 
tal union of Palmerston with his full sister, Quail. 
The most remarkable incident of inbreeding of 
English setters in this country was that of Dr. 
Stark, then of Wisconsin and afterward of South 
Dakota. Taking Mr. Adams's Dora, by Duke 
out of Rhoebe, as a foundation, her daughter by 
Rock — he also carrying Duke-Rhoebe blood — 
was bred to Bergundthal's Rake, he being closely 
inbred to Rhoebe. From this union came Madam 
Llewellin, and she was bred back to Rake, pro- 
ducing a large lemon-and-white dog named Wild 
Rake. This dog went into the hands of Mr. 
W. W. Titus, and afterward belonged to Messrs. 
W. C. Kennedy and P. H. O'Bannon of Vir- 
ginia. The last I heard of him he belonged to 
Mr. Jester of Delaware. Wild Rake was of little 
or no value, as all these breeders proved, but he 
had plenty of size and physical vigor and no de- 
ficiency of intelligence — that is, of intelligence for 
ordinary purposes. But from the continuous in- 
breeding to old Rhoebe, and, perhaps, from the 
Rock blood which he carried, he had little defin- 
ite ambition or responsiveness to training. I had 
one litter from him which were all large dogs, 
two of them almost giants. The largest ones 
were fairly good on birds, but very slow. One of 



246 The Sporting Dog 

the medium-sized brothers became an exception- 
ally fine bird dog, but gave considerable trouble 
to the trainer at first by his gun-shyness and tim- 
idity. The other was rather hard-headed and ob- 
stinate, but developed into a fast, high-class, and 
valuable dog. I think that these two drew their 
best characteristics from their dam, which had a 
strong inheritance of blood from Bolus's Belton. 
There are some other notable experiments of 
inbreeding. One was the mating of Gath, a 
grandson of Gladstone, with Gem, a daughter of 
Gladstone. The result was a litter of large, 
strong and gifted dogs, the leaders of which were 
Gath's Mark and Gath's Hope. Marse Ben, a 
large, strong, vigorous dog, of which I have fre- 
quently spoken in this book, is a result on his 
dam's side of close inbreeding ; and he has lately 
been bred back to his dam, giving a litter of 
puppies not lacking in size or strength. Tony 
Boy, the finest example among setters of endur- 
ance at high speed, is close up to Roderigo on 
both sides. Mr. James Cole of Kansas City bred 
Lady Cole back to her sire, Cincinnatus's Pride, 
and got a litter of strong, beautiful puppies. 

These examples are not cited to persuade any- 
body that inbreeding is a rule to follow for its 
own sake. Indiscriminately applied, such a rule 
would be vicious. I mention them to show that 
there is no law of inheritance under which 



Breeding 247 

inbreeding produces puny and weak specimens. 
It all depends on selection and circumstances. 
One trouble about close line breeding is the 
tendency after the second generation to split up 
into the original elements. 

Some people will tell you that a sire and dam 
must both be good in order to produce good 
descendants; and yet Gladstone's dam was indi- 
vidually worthless, and Rodfield's dam has been 
described to me as of no value except for her pedi- 
gree. It frequently happens that a dog is much 
better than either his sire or dam. I can cite an 
example in a litter which I bred from the grey- 
hound Mystic Maid, herself only a moderate per- 
former. I bred her to Astronomy, a still more 
moderate dog, and the result was one of the best 
litters of greyhounds I ever saw. All of them 
were unlucky except Astral Maid. She alone 
came to coursing form. During the season when 
she was in good training she won every stake in 
which she was entered. She was far superior in 
looks and coursing quality to either her sire 
or dam. Another greyhound case is that of Mon- 
soon, winner of the American Waterloo Cup of 
1 901. Monsoon's dam. Little Fairy, was a dwarf- 
ish and whippet-looking thing, but well bred. 
Monsoon, except for a tendency to run cunning, 
was one of the best greyhounds ever started in 
St. Louis, a class beyond either sire or dam. 



248 The Sporting Dog 

Wiseacres often say that breeders should wait 
until animals are fully matured before breeding ; 
yet the pointer, Dot's Pearl, had six winners in 
two litters, all produced before she was two years 
old. My own experience is that the very first 
litter is the best and is all the better if produced 
from the first season. 

Perhaps the safest advice to the young breeder 
is to recommend the rule of Lord Falmouth in 
breeding race-horses. His idea was to use very 
few mares, but to have none except such as had 
won a classic stake. Then he bred these mares 
to the best winners of classic stakes. In other 
words, he selected the best winners he could get 
and bred them to the best winners he could find. 
Such a course will be disappointing, but in the 
long run it must necessarily keep a man as near 
the front as any rule would carry him. For ex- 
ample, if he had followed the rule in pointers, he 
would probably have a continuous line of breed- 
ing from Trinket's Bang, King of Kent, Duke of 
Hessen, Rip Rap, and Jingo. In setters, his 
line would be from Gladstone, Count Noble, 
Roderigo, Count Gladstone IV, Antonio, and 
Tony Boy. Of course, he might have been led 
off by breeding to such dogs as Wun Lung, 
Topsy's Rod, and Rowdy Rod, all of which were 
brilliant dogs but inferior as producers. Still, on 
the whole he would have been successful. 



Breeding 249 

There is another breeding rule of equal horse 
sense value. That is to get what the noted 
breeder and trainer, Andy Gleason, used to call 
*' old pie " bitches. Gleason meant those females 
which, without any apparent reason, have the 
quality of reliably producing high-class dogs, no 
matter how mated. Gleason himself had one of 
this kind in Don's Nellie. Dave Rose had one 
in Lady May. Titus had one in Betty B. All 
of these were setters. Pearl's Dot is an example 
in pointers, and Mr. Lowe's White Lips the most 
conspicuous in greyhounds. Perhaps the best 
advice in breeding is that the breeder should 
secure bitches of this kind. Neither I nor any- 
body else could tell him where to get them, but 
the advice is none the less good. Very few of 
the " old pie " bitches would have been selected 
by tape-line critics. Betty B. was fairly well bred, 
but she weighed less than thirty pounds, and 
would have been rejected by any theorist. White 
Lips was not fashionably bred as Englishmen 
would call it, but she reached results by some 
inherent virtue of reproduction. 

Mr. Charles Askins, an experienced breeder 
and handler and secretary of the Handler's 
Association, has a rule that the important thing 
in breeding is to know what the sire and dam are. 
As he puts it, a man can take chances on any- 
thing back of the third generation if the sire and 



250 The Sporting Dog 

dam are both winners of vigorous character. Yet, 
against Mr. Askins's convincing illustrations, one 
may remember the experiment of Mr. Hulman of 
Indiana and Captain O'Bannon of Virginia, who 
organized the famous Blue Ridge Kennel, with 
Rose as trainer. At one time these gentlemen 
had almost a monopoly of the great setters of the 
country, including Gath's Mark, Gath's Hope, 
Antonio, and Dan Gladstone, together with such 
matrons as Fannie Murnan, Lily Burges, Gossip, 
and Laundress. This kennel was by no means 
a failure, and the experiments produced many 
winners; but it sadly disappointed its projectors. 
They expected to turn out phenomena. The 
blood which they produced is still valuable in field 
dog kennels. A similar experience befell the 
Manchester Kennel, at the head of which was 
that unrivalled bird finder, Gleam's Sport. 

When considered impartially, the breeding of 
field dogs has been a story of real success. There 
are not so many failures as the pessimists think, 
and the steady progress has been upward. The 
average has been remarkably good. It must be 
remembered in all breeding that the winners are 
comparatively few. No matter how good the 
breeding theory and practice, the dogs which 
stand out as superior to all other dogs must al- 
ways be the exceptions. That proposition proves 
itself, but is not always believed. 



Breeding 251 

There is an inexorable law which book authori- 
ties do not seem to recognize. It is the law which 
tends unceasingly to a reproduction of the average 
quality of the breed. It constantly pulls upward 
to the average and constantly pulls down. You 
can take all the phenomena of a season for 
breeding purposes and the chances are that your 
result will be merely an excellent average of the 
breed. Some people have a way of charging this 
to atavism. As a matter of fact, atavism, or the 
tendency to throw back to some remote ancestor, 
is not as threatening as the talk about it would 
indicate. The law of perpetuating averages is 
not only threatening, but it is ever present and 
eternal. It is that law which the breeder must 
recognize and reckon with. His wonderful 
winners will come along occasionally; but he 
must understand that, whatever his breeding 
stock, he does very well if he gets results up to 
a good standard. 

Discussion of breeding and citation of facts and 
illustrations could go on indefinitely; but this 
chapter can stop at no better place than with the 
foregoing statement of the law of averages, a 
law of such force that the greatest individual dog 
cannot often raise the level, while despised indi- 
viduals can gain posthumous laurels through the 
greatness of their children. The only practical 
application of the law is to use the best individ- 



2^2 The Sporting Dog 

uals of the best descent, and then be prepared 
for anything. 

Breeding is all a matter of probabilities. The 
skilful breeder minimizes the danger of defects. 
When he gets a fine specimen all the world hears 
him "holler." When he gets a dozen plugs he 
remembers that silence is golden ; he shuns fame. 
Even about his fine ones his hindsight is better 
than was his foresight as to how he did the trick. 
And this is the art and science of breeding. 

Mendel's law is the present sensation among 
students of heredity. Any one who expects to 
acquire trustworthy knowledge of the rules under 
which nature conducts inheritance must watch 
the labors of the investigators who are developing 
the Mendel discovery. Mendel gave it out years 
ago, but the scientific world is just making use of 
his work. Roughly stated, Mendel's law is that 
when certain plants are crossbred, and the de- 
scendants are interbred, a proportion will have 
the prepotency of one ancestor, a proportion that 
of the other, and a proportion a combination of 
both. In other words, the crossbred form is not 
permanent. How far the law applies to animals 
has not at this time been ascertained. But at 
least, the Mendel law bids fair to completely 
upset some of the most tenaciously held deduc- 
tions of old writers, who thought that when they 
said "like produces like" they could make their 



Breeding 253 

corollaries and multiply their factors as if they 
were dealing with inanimate paints or building 
material. The law seems to deny most of the old 
notions about inbreeding, or to call for new ex- 
planations. Whatever the inquiry may settle, 
the lecturer on the " science of breeding " must 
pause until the limits of Mendel's law are deter- 
mined by verified observation. 



CHAPTER XIX 

BENCH SHOWS AND FIELD TRIALS 

Public competitions are the only means of 
determining accurately the qualities of horses or 
dogs used in sport. Private competitions might 
answer the same purpose, but no dependence can 
be placed upon the information which comes from 
such surroundings. It grows too fast between 
point of origin and written history. Even in the 
case of public competitions and public records 
the two elements of personal ignorance and per- 
sonal bias cannot be eliminated. Publicity, how- 
ever, usually produces enough of checks and 
attrition to furnish a reasonably reliable record 
in the long run. 

So definite is the comparative value of public 
competitions, that I, for one, have little faith in 
the opinions on sporting dogs formed prior to 
the introduction of field trials and bench shows 
in England. I have seen and read too many 
foolish tales from well-meaning but narrow imagi- 
nations to pay much attention to a comparative 
judgment formed without opportunities of com- 
parison. There was a great deal of good breed- 

254 



Bench Shows and Field Trials 255 

ing before the days of public competition, but it 
was irregular and not severely tested. There 
may have been a few superlative specimens. 
Even so much, however, I would accept with 
doubt. 

In the case of greyhounds the record of prog- 
ress is plain enough since the establishment of 
the institutional public event, the Waterloo Cup, 
three-quarters of a century ago. At that, there 
are plenty of ignorant people who think that 
there never has been a second Master McGrath 
or Coomassie, though, by what I should regard 
as a safe gauge, it may be assumed that neither 
of those animals would last through the second 
round of a modern Waterloo running. 

In foxhounds, also, a suf^ciently progressive 
standard may have been fixed by the constant 
competition of hounds in the great semi-public 
packs of the English hunting counties. In 
America the foxhound has been largely devel- 
oped by a survival of the fittest in private con- 
tests. That, to again insist, does not produce a 
great deal of confidence in the neighborhood 
reputation of certain hounds. A record of supe- 
riority is not standard until it becomes public. 

The student of sporting dogs will hear a great 
deal of discontent with bench shows and field trials, 
but, whatever the drawbacks may be, he will con- 
tinue his studies in their records. 



256 The Sporting Dog 

The first bench show in America was held at 
Mineola, New York,in 1874, in connection with the 
Queens County Agricultural Fair. It was princi- 
pally made up of shooting dogs. Mr. Orgill, who 
had a handsome family of small pointers, was one 
of the principal exhibitors. The first West- 
minster Kennel Club show was held in 1876, and 
that association has thenceforward been recog- 
nized as the leading factor in bench shows. 

In fact, I believe that it is the only club which 
has had a permanent financial success. The 
dog public is a small part of the population in 
America, if we count only those who care for the 
fine points of the breeds. In the last analysis it is 
men of European birth who really sustain Ameri- 
can bench-show activity. The history of bench 
shows in a community usually is that the first 
one which is held after a period of desuetude is 
a pecuniary success, since the general love of 
novelty and the friendliness of the newspapers 
move a crowd. Then, from season to season, the 
affair dwindles, and finally the club goes out of 
existence. Four or five years pass, and another 
nucleus of enthusiasts launches a new bench- 
show club to go through the same experience. 

In the early days sporting dogs constituted the 
important part of the exhibits. Of late years the 
owners of sporting dogs have paid more attention 
to trials on game and have neglected bench shows. 



Bench Shows and Field Trials i^i 

This has always been true of greyhound men and 
has lately become equally characteristic of field 
dog and hound owners. Meanwhile, the interest 
in fancy breeds has rapidly developed, and it is now 
the collies, Boston terriers, pet spaniels, and fox- 
terriers which are the large entries and which 
attract attention. 

For a long time the classes of bench shows 
were under A. K. C. jurisdiction made up in each 
breed of puppy, open, and challenge classes. A 
dog got into the challenge class after a certain 
number of wins in the open class, and became a 
champion after a certain number of wins in the 
challenge class. This classification fell into dis- 
favor because, by taking a moderate specimen 
around to the smaller shows where there was 
little competition, it was easy to create a cham- 
pion and mislead those who trusted the bench 
shows for records of excellence. The present 
system is puppy, novice, limit, open, and winners 
classes. The limit class is for those which have 
only done a certain amount of winning; the 
open class is for any dog without regard to win- 
nings ; the award of winner is made to the best dog 
taken from the open, limit, and novice classes. In 
other words, the winner in each of these classes 
is put into the ring and the best dog is picked. 
The championship is achieved after a certain num- 
ber of wins in the winners class. When the winners 



258 The Sporting Dog 

class was first adopted by the American Kennel 
Club, the championship followed a certain number 
of wins, all shows being on the same footing. 
Later was devised the present system of grading 
the shows according to the number of entries, 
and crediting the candidate for a championship 
with a certain number of points according to the 
number of entries. An attempt was recently 
made to grade the shows according to the amount 
of money offered in prizes, but many exhibitors 
disapproved and the project was for the time 
postponed. 

Field trials followed quickly the importation of 
English winning pointers and setters. The chief 
interest developed in the central West, though 
the New York and other Eastern people also early 
began their field trial competition. At first the 
entries were a miscellaneous lot, which would 
excite amusement if they appeared before latter- 
day judges. Irish, Gordon, crossbred, and native 
English setters, most of them merely pet shooting 
dogs, appeared together. At the beginning the 
system was to judge according to the number of 
points. Five points was made the standard, and 
the dogs which made five points were taken into 
the second series. That rule soon reduced itself 
to absurdity, since a very cheap dog of fairly good 
nose could, with a bit of luck or alert handling, 
get his five points, while a high-class dog would 



Bench Shows and Field Trials iS9 

throw himself out by a flush. The field trial men 
then introduced the " heat " system, in which they 
followed the rule of coursing. That is, when the 
braces were drawn, each dog which beat his com- 
petitor was carried into the next series, and so on. 
This, however, was found not to work satisfacto- 
rily, since by the drawing of two first-rate dogs 
together, or by a difference in conditions, or by 
accidents, the best dogs in a stake were frequently 
beaten. The " spotting " system was then adopted 
and prevails to-day. The field rules of most 
clubs call for three judges. The dogs are drawn 
in braces by lot and are put down in that order for 
the first series. The judges then pick out, with- 
out regard to any special number, the dogs which 
they think have class enough to be among the 
winning probabilities. Further running is left to 
the discretion of the judges, who run the animals 
in braces or singly in order to satisfy themselves 
of the comparative merits. Shooting is rarely re- 
quired in field trials at present. The judges, how- 
ever, sometimes order the handler to shoot over 
a point in order to test the dog. In most trials 
the heats are from twenty to forty minutes. In 
the principal championship stakes the rules 
usually require the heats to be three hours long. 
In all trials the judges are required to insist upon 
the quality of performance and not the mere num- 
ber of points. They are instructed to look for 



26o The Sporting Dog 

bird sense, as well as for speed and range, but are 
warned against stress upon retrieving, that being 
an artificial and not a natural performance. 

I should advise every one who desires to be 
informed about field dogs to attend a few of these 
public trials. He will find an agreeable lot of 
sportsmen and will learn a great deal about the 
qualities of dogs which he would never discover 
from the reports or even from personal conversa- 
tions with actual spectators. Not that the reports 
are usually anything but accurate, but that they 
necessarily assume a foundation of knowledge on 
the part of the reader. I have found that people 
who depend upon reading or hearsay grossly ex- 
aggerate the faults and shortcomings of these 
field trial dogs. They do not realize that the 
standard of judgment is beyond comparison 
higher and more severe than that applied to 
everyday dogs. It would also be a valuable edu- 
cation in many respects if the student would 
make a few entries in public trials and get into 
the competition of patrons. He cannot learn to 
estimate dog performance in any other way so 
quickly and thoroughly. At the same time, I 
should warn him strongly against entering second- 
rate dogs merely through good nature or curiosity. 
Field trial clubs are anxious to get as many entries 
as possible in order that their prizes may be allur- 
ing, but it does not do field trials any good, and it 



Bench Shows and Field Trials 261 

makes the investigator feel a bit foolish if he sends 
dogs to the races which have not been thoroughly 
tried out against a veteran performer of standard 
merit. Most field trial patrons have gone through 
this disagreeable experience, and the beginner 
would as well avoid it by watchfully trying out 
his candidates, without waiting to make the trials 
before a crowd. 

Both field trial and bench judges are nearly 
always honest and sincere. They are far from 
omniscient and have their notions; especially 
when they have good intentions combined with 
weak memories and still weaker powers of dis- 
crimination ; and this often happens. With bench 
judging there is not much dissatisfaction — except 
where type is a standing dispute — of a justified 
kind. The best dog nearly always gets the blue 
ribbon, the doubt arising oftener over the second 
and third places. 

Field trial owners have more incompetence to 
meet, at least more inconsistencies and unac- 
countable fancies. The association of handlers 
have asked that clubs give consideration to a list 
of judges approved by handlers as representatives 
of the owners. Possibly a definite and intelligible 
system of judging will grow out of this effort. 
Heretofore it has been discouraging for owners 
to encounter this week judges who are tickled by 
style, next week lovers of speed and range and the 



262 The Sporting Dog 

week after sticklers for carefulness in locating 
birds. The most demoralizing judges are those 
who have in their minds no fixed rules at all, but 
divide up the awards as politicians distribute 
nominations — to satisfy geography and various 
interests. Still, judges seldom pick a poor dog, 
and at the end of every season the best ones are 
found to have done the most winning. Granting 
this, it is likely that field trials will begin to de- 
cline, — as coursing invariably does in such a case, 
— unless the owners find judges upon whose 
mental processes as well as moral intent they can 
rely with some certainty. A step toward a more 
reliable method would be to abandon the three- 
judge custom at field trials and employ one judge, 
giving him power to select his own assistants to 
follow different dogs. As the practice now goes, 
winners are often selected by the judge who has 
the most of that petty self-assertion so commonly 
found in company with narrow comprehension ; 
or by a compromise in which each judge's first 
choice is set back for a dog not really first-class, 
but good enough for a sort of " nobody objects " 
agreement. Progress and experience may be ex- 
pected to adjust these tribunal troubles, which, 
after all, only show that high-class dogs are more 
abundant than they used to be at field trials, and 
that finer powers of analysis are demanded to 
determine the many close contests. 



Bench Shows and Field Trials 263 

The rapid vogue of coursing in San Francisco 
was measurably, if not chiefly, due to the unshak- 
able faith of owners and public in not only the 
bo7ia fides, but the mens cequa of the judge, John 
Grace. When a field trial owner invests $250 or 
$300 apiece in a string of young setters or pointers, 
he likes to know what to expect, and he will not 
repeat the trouble and expense if the judging is 
unreliable and inconsistent. One umpire, referee, 
or judge is the best system in all contests of sport. 
Field trials will almost certainly come to the gen- 
eral conclusion of experience. 

Including Canada and California, the recog- 
nized public field trials number annually about 
twenty-five on quail and chicken, with four or five 
for the beagles, and at least two, one in New Eng- 
land and one in Kentucky, for foxhounds. The 
circuit on birds begins in August with the chicken 
trials of the Iowa or Nebraska clubs and moves 
later over into Canada, keeping the handlers busy 
for several weeks, though most of them take a 
rest before the quail trials open in Ohio about the 
middle of October. The state clubs run along 
until the first of December, the Interstate Cham- 
pionship, now called the American Championship, 
for winners, being decided at the conclusion of 
the state events. The "big" private clubs, the 
Eastern and the United States, have held trials re- 
spectively in North Carolina and near the Tennes- 



264 The Sporting Dog 

see- Mississippi line. Just after the United States 
trial, usually about the first of February, what its 
members call " the " championship has been com- 
ino: off. This is the event which has been won 
by Tony's Gale, Joe Gumming, Lady's Gount 
Gladstone, Sioux, and Geneva. It is a special 
club, not under any other body, but the win- 
ning of the stake has so far been esteemed the 
crowning performance of each season. The title 
of this body is now the National Championship 
Association. 

Lately there has been a movement to consoli- 
date the American, — Interstate, — the Canadian, 
and the National championships, so that an un- 
disputed winner may be crowned each year. But 
some differences of opinion and some incon- 
veniences of travel will probably operate against 
any stable plan of concentrating on one field dog 
championship. One or another championship 
association may dissolve, — the finances being a 
burden when entries are so limited, — and thus 
leave a single trial supreme for a season, but 
others will arise, for reasons of geography and the 
convenience of owners. 

None of these associations has an extensive 
membership or the elements of permanence. In 
effect they are little more than agencies for the 
owners and handlers. Their funds consist almost 
wholly of entrance fees. Most of them consist of 



Bench Shows and Field Trials 26$ 

a president and a secretary, with one or two active 
helpers from the scanty membership. The sec- 
retary does most of the management. Even the 
championship clubs lack stability and coherence. 
In 1902, for the American Championship Associ- 
ation, Mr. James Pease of Chicago paid a large 
part of the winnings out of his private means. In 
1903 the stake fell through altogether. I have 
heard that the National Championship Club costs 
Mr. Herman Duryea $1000 a year as a personal 
contribution. The Eastern Club has always been 
the strongest of the field trial clubs, but in its 
early days it consisted chiefly of Messrs. James L. 
Breese, Pierre Lorillard, and a few of their New 
York friends. Mr. Lorillard is still active, with 
Mr. George Crocker and three or four more as 
his dependable associates. Some time, it is fair 
to assume, the field trial clubs will be better 
organized and consolidated, with reliably good 
grounds and systematic management. 

Somebody might compile a key to the relative 
meanings of adjectives applied to sporting per- 
formers. It is human nature to connect a word 
with its significance in ordinary affairs. When 
they read that a race-horse is slow, a " dog," or 
an " ice-wagon," people cannot always remember 
that the comparison is with the greatest winners 
and not with common private stock. Nor can 
they grasp the fact that every horse on that 



266 The Sporting Dog 

particular track can, in condition, do a mile in less 
than I : 40, while the best horse on the track could 
not beat i : 38, a percentage plenty wide for bet- 
ting purposes, but very narrow as related to horses 
in general. A Yale foot-ball player may be de- 
scribed as the weak brother of the team. Readers, 
especially those who know little of the game, 
easily imagine that the young man is a poor speci- 
men among other young men, whereas he is a 
picked athlete, and weak only by a small margin 
as compared with the three or four other men in 
the whole land who play the position better. 
Sporting writers are compelled to pronounce opin- 
ions within the respective grades of performance, 
but on top of that they are rather more of the 
Sir Oracle than is wholly necessary. And the 
worst of it is that deductive writers pick up these 
reportorial phrases as not relative but absolute 
records, and deliver dogmas to the multitude 
about inferiority and deterioration. 

The corrective is to remember that on a first- 
rate race-track every horse is fast ; that when the 
big colleges compete in foot-ball, every player is a 
selected and trained man ; that in every prominent 
field trial of dogs each pointer or setter has been 
chosen from among many good ones, and that not 
even a yellow ribbon ever goes on the collar of an 
inferior dog at one of the big bench shows. In 
the presence of the sophisticated a dabbler would 



Bench Shows and Field Trials iS-j 

better not boast too much about what his neigh- 
borhood dogs would do with field trial winners. 
Somebody may call for demonstration ; and if he 
tries to demonstrate, he will be quickly reduced to 
a state of chumpish confusion. 



SKETCHES IN THE EAST AND WEST 

[These little tales are not romances, but exact recitals — as to the 
dogs — of incidents in the field. It is hoped that they convey some 
useful suggestions.] 

On the Eastu'n Sho' 

" I des gvvine back ter de Eastu'n Sho', 
I done got tiahd o' Bawltimo', 

'Ca'se I'se wuhkin' hahd 

In de white folks' yahd, 
En' I don' git time ter res' no mo'." 

To us not yet of the toga he was the doctor; 
to the young voters he was Doctor Ed ; to those 
of three decades he was Ed ; to the venerable he 
was Eddy. On the Eastern Shore of Maryland, 
where the families are as old as the land boun- 
daries and are interrelated, these gradations, mix- 
tures of familiarity with recognition of dignity, 
are understood. 

Once a season the doctor shot quail on the 
judge's place. The old man, a small laird in his 
way, lived on land which had been in his family 
since the Proprietary times. His notion of tres- 
pass was English and baronial. Whether he 
would go to extremes or not was not openly 
tested, but every boy and poacher believed that 

268 



Sketches in the East and West 16 <) 

taking gun and dog on the judge's domain was 
fraught with more danger than the fun was worth. 
The doctor alone had the passport, and because 
both he and his dogs had the " manners of gentle- 
men." He was a physician, just old enough to 
be settled in practice, with that talent for repres- 
sion of rougher impulses which Eastern Shoremen 
of the old school cultivated early in life, and with 
that firm practical purpose in all he did which 
was more common in the slave states than fiction 
has ever explained. I was a lad and his pupil in 
wing shooting. 

" Come along to-morrow," he said to me one 
November evening. " It's the time to have my 
pet day, and I'll show you the best quail shooting 
in the country and that fine old gentleman, Judge 
Winder, at home." 

It was before the advent of knowledge about 
Llewellins and Laveracks. The doctor's two 
setters were "natives," one liver-and-white, one 
lemon-and-white, clean-cut, bright-eyed, and lov- 
able. The doctor did not play with them. Nor 
did he scold or strike. When he spoke, he 
meant something and they understood. When 
he did not speak, they knew that there was noth- 
ing to do. 

At a quick order they jumped into the buggy 
and lay quietly. We drove along the old river 
road for a jogging hour. A couple of miles away 



270 The Sporting Dog 

from the destination the leader of the expedition 
stopped at a stubble field. 

" This is cousin George's farm," he said. 
" We'll send the dogs around that field. They 
are reliable enough, but we have a reputation 
with the judge for good behavior, and it won't 
hurt to take off the edge a little. Get out, Bob." 
And a minute later, " Get out, Hicks." 

With a wave of the hand to each, " Bob, over ; 
Hicks, over." 

One after the other they scrambled over the 
rail fence. Then a sharp, " Ho ! " Both stopped. 
" Bob ! " and a wave of the hand to the right. 
" Hicks ! " a wave to the left. Off they dashed, 
skirting the field in opposite directions. Bob 
stopped at a bush near a pine thicket which was 
one boundary of the field. The doctor picked 
up his gun. 

" No, it's only a rabbit. See how he moves his 
tail and peers at the bush. He'll go on." 

And Bob left the despised cottontail to be 
trapped by the country boys or chased by the 
darkies' hounds. 

But the thicket was good cover for other game, 
and Bob pointed again, this time stiffly extended, 
with eyes strained and one foot raised. 

Again the sharp order. Hicks stopped short 
and looked around inquiringly. A wave of the 
hand brought him across the field. Another call. 



Sketches in the East and West 271 

This time the hand went straight up, warningly, 
and Hicks took a backing position. 

" Never let your dog make a mistake, and he 
won't make one," said the doctor. That sounded 
reasonable and called for no remarks. 

Guns ready, we walked up to Bob's point. 

" You do the shooting. I want to be sure on 
the jump that the dogs don't get any foolishness 
into their heads. Walk ahead of the dog." 

With the nervousness which a poor shot can't 
help feeling in the presence of a master, I flushed 
the birds ; and of course shot too soon. I had a 
choke-bore gun, then new in fashion and over- 
choked for quail. But I hit a bird and saw 
something fall. 

Like the dogs, I was not going to take any 
liberties with the doctor, and waited for orders. 

" Bob ! dead ; fetch." Bob followed the point- 
ing finger and came to the fallen bird. But he 
did not pick it up. He looked and then looked 
again. He turned to the doctor for light on the 
subject. 

" What's the matter ? " The doctor went up 
to examine before rating the dog for disobedience. 
He laughed. 

" Well, that was a centre. Come here." 

The load from my choke-bore had struck the 
bird a shade high and along the back, tearing it 
into a mangled strip a foot long. 



272 The Sporting Dog 

" I agree with the dog," laughed my men- 
tor. " I wouldn't pick up such a butcher's job. 
If you're going to use that gun on anything 
but ducks and crows, you'll have to give some 
distance." 

Meanwhile Hicks had been called up. They 
were sent across the field again without results. 
We returned to the buggy and drove on, letting 
the dogs range along at will, though the doctor 
kept an eye on them. As we approached the 
judge's big swinging gate they were ordered again 
into the buggy and lay there, panting, but quiet, 
as we drove up the lane to the roomy old white 
house. The judge was looking for us. 

" Good mornin', Eddy. Good mornin', young 
man. Come in, come in. We'll have dinner in 
a few minutes. Sharp at twelve's the order to 
Maria to-day for the hunters. How's your wife, 
Eddy } I was just thinkin' about your father last 
night. I'll have a boy watch your dogs." 

This last was superfluous, as the judge knew. 
But he went through the form, 

" Never mind the dogs, judge. They will stay 
in the buggy. Just put the horse up anywhere." 

He held up a finger and spoke sternly to the 
dogs. 

" Quiet, now. Mind." The buggy moved off 
to the big stable yard, the dogs accepting the 
situation and getting ready for a nap. 



Sketches in the East and West 273 

The early dinner was another amiable fraud. 
The host would have been robbed of his day if 
we had not been ready to sit for two hours and 
give him all the county-seat gossip of politics and 
the bodily complaints of leading citizens. His 
judgeship had been of the Orphan's Court — the 
Maryland probate court. After the old landown- 
ing fashion, he had not been trained for a profes- 
sion, and had done little but manage his not too 
large property and read political speeches. In 
his lonely age, slaves gone and corn prices low, 
he was too much attached to the land to sell, and 
too proud to move to town with his few hundreds 
of cash income. He believed none the less 
stoutly in his position and its various duties, — 
hospitality, church, and politics the chief. The 
period had many such pictures of dignity and 
pathos, as the old order lingered in the new. 

First, of course, we must range up to the side- 
board and take brandy and sugar, the brandy of 
his own distilling ten years before. Then the 
dinner — enough for ten. The judge's two hours 
went rapidly. All three of us were related to 
two-thirds of the " known " people of the county 
and to each other. There was no waiting for 
topics. But the old gentleman knew his obliga- 
tion to a hair. 

" Well, well. I'm keepin' you from your gun- 
nin' and it will be dark before you get to shootin' 



274 The Sporting Dog 

right." Eastern Shoremen used to rebuke pre- 
ciseness by cutting off their " g's " as well as their 
"r's." 

The dogs were called, and the judge looked at 
them approvingly as they stood waiting for orders. 

" If all the huntin' dogs did as much credit to 
their raisin' as Eddy's, I couldn't have the heart 
to keep 'em off the place, I reckon, and I wouldn't 
have a bird or a rabbit left. But I won't stand 
these fellows who come prowlin' around, startin' 
the sheep to runnin' and the hens to cacklin,' and 
the whole farm to makin' noises. I had an egg- 
suckin' darky cur killed no longer back than last 
week. That Billy Walker is the only one of these 
white men who don't pay their taxes and want to 
use other men's land that makes me sorry I don't 
let him come. He can school a dog, I'll say that. 
He's got a pair of ' beadles,' as he calls 'em, for 
rabbits, and a little rat-tailed ' pinter ' gip for birds. 
I don't know how he does it, but he's made the 
beagles hunt without yelping. They'll chase rab- 
bits within a hundred yards of your house and 
you'd never know it. Of course, Billy don't shoot 
too close to a house when he isn't wanted, but he 
can crack away with his little gun in a back field 
or the woods and nobody knows but it's somebody 
who's got business. He takes his ' beadles ' and 
his ' pinter ' out together, and when he comes to a 
rabbit place the gip just walks along at his heels 



Sketches in the East and IVest 275 

as if she never saw a gun. If it's a field where 
birds use, then she goes out, and the beagles fol- 
low Billy and never try to get ten feet away. He's 
got no land of his own and he will gun around. 
Before Christmas he's generally got all the rabbits 
and birds thinned out except mine. He has some 
respect for me or is afraid I'll have his dogs shot. 
But these farmers who do their own work he just 
holds as natural prey for a gunner who has sportin' 
blood." 

By this time we had come to the old orchard, 
the dogs at heel. 

" One at a time is best for them," said the doc- 
tor. "Hicks! g'wan!" 

The dog galloped out, following the hand to 
the right. 

"Bob! g'wan!" And Bob went to the left 
along a fence in the corners of which were 
bushes and briers. But the birds were resting 
in the centre of the orchard, where four or five 
rails had been left irregularly piled across one 
another. After ranging along the sides, stopping 
to nose out a bush or a clump of grass, as the old 
" natives " nearly always did, they were brought 
down toward us through the trees. The liver- 
and-white caught scent barely in time. The 
birds had not been moving. But he was in time 
and froze stiff, the other backing instantly. The 
doctor brought down two birds, and I punctured 



276 The Sporting Dog 

the air. Then he sent a dog to retrieve each 
bird. 

The judge went back to the house, after tell- 
ing us at some length how he had never cared for 
gunning, but had done some " fox ridin' " and 
helped to make a few match horse-races of county 
fame. 

We shot along with the usual variations of suc- 
cess but with no mistakes for the dogs. Late in 
the afternoon we struck a weed field which sloped 
to a marsh bordering the river. The doctor laughed 
oddly as he expressed a wonder whether the old 
field had any birds. 

Bob began to point, crawling along, the other 
dog backing and creeping a dozen paces behind. 
I was on tiptoe, excited and expecting something 
to happen every second. The doctor took it easy, 
being unaccountably contented, as I afterward re- 
called. The time seemed a quarter of an hour. 
I suppose it was two minutes. As we came to 
twenty yards from the marsh, all at once there 
arose the biggest lot — I can't call it a bevy — of 
quail I ever saw together, or ever shall see unless 
I go to California, where bevies unite into colo- 
nies. My own nerves were unequal to the sight, 
and I did not shoot at all. The doctor clipped 
one out of the bunch as they reached the marsh. 
After it was retrieved he explained. 

" This field always gives the same show," he 



Sketches in the East and West i-j^] 

said. " For some reason, there are usually about 
three broods here. Sometimes they are all in a 
flock like this, sometimes separate. But they 
always run ahead of the dog till they get near the 
marsh and take refuge scattered on the tussocks. 
If you don't mind wetting your ankles, we can 
get two or three of them, though they're hard to 
flush out there, and the dogs can't find them with 
much success." 

We wet our ankles and got the two or three 
birds. But it was not what I call pleasant shoot- 
ing, and the dogs were bothered as much finding 
dead birds in the water and marsh grass as we 
in getting through the mud. 

Going around the other side of the farm, we 
flushed a bevy on a ditch bank grown dense with 
heavy grass, now down and matted. When the 
dogs were ordered on, they trotted toward the 
thicket where the quail had taken refuge, nosing 
as they went. Fidelity to history compels any 
annalist to say that the dogs of the good old times 
pottered no little and did not wander so far that 
the owner of a ringing voice — and who does not 
know the long and musical reach of the " hollers " 
which men learn when they hunt a fox or a 'coon 
at night? — could not control them without a 
whistle. In fact, the whistle is a modern innova- 
tion on the Eastern Shore. 

Nosing, then, and trotting rapidly but cau- 



278 The Sporting Dog 

tiously, Bob, usually the leader, stopped to a posi- 
tive point on the ditch bank. 

" There's never two bunches along this ditch," 
said the doctor, doubtingly. He had the old 
farm's capacity well conned. 

But it was a point and there must be something. 
We glided forward. Nothing flushed. The dog 
still pointed. Walking around him and kicking 
the grass, we could still raise nothing. The master 
looked for a terrapin, a roosting place, everything 
which might explain the insistent point. He at 
last spoke a regretful and reproachful word to 
Robert and called him on. Bob seemed to say, 
" Well, if you can't, I will." He leaped for- 
ward and pounced on some object in the grass. 
This was the worst kind of knotty Greek to me 
and it stumped even the veteran. We could see 
not a thing to explain the dog's action. He would 
not act that way over a mole or field mouse. But 
he was right, after all. Carefully pulling apart 
the grass, we saw the brown coat of a quail. It 
was so tightly wedged into the heavy growth that 
it could not move. Anything but a flawless nose, 
any dog of the overhurrying kind, would have 
passed it by and turned its hiding device into a 
brilliant success. Dropping out of the bevy as 
the others spread into the thicket, the bird had 
dashed into an opening, only to find itself both 
caged and wing-locked. 



Sketches in the East and West 279 

The other dog had his turn in showing us a 
slightly peculiar experience. Cantering along a 
growthy old hedge, where the doctor was expecting 
to raise a bevy unless we should get it in the ad- 
joining fields, Hicks came to a stop, evidently 
pointing, but with that " not just for keeps " air 
which shooting men so easily distinguish from a 
decisive point. We took it to be a momentary 
rabbit episode and made no haste. As we drew 
near, a big bird rose over the hedge. After a 
swift glance, the doctor let drive. With a broken 
wing a blue hawk flapped to the ground ; his 
angry, fearless eyes seeming to snap and his strong 
talons ready for enemies. While my companion 
started to jump over a low place in the hedge I 
thought to hold the dog. But Hicks was still 
pointing. Following the direction of his nose I 
looked into the hedge; there was a bunch of 
feathers, which, I soon saw, concealed a half-eaten 
quail. When the hawk was killed and stowed 
away to become a stuffed specimen, the doctor 
informed me that he had never before seen a blue 
hawk eat his prey where it was struck, or stick to 
it in front of man or dog. " Must have been sav- 
agely hungry," he said. 

The sun was by that time low, and we went 
back to the judge for another toddy, a supper, 
and a smoke. And then the ten-mile drive home 
in the cool, drowsy autumn night. 



2 8o The Sporting Dog 

So on the Eastu'n Sho' the right men handled 
their dogs before the war, and after the war, 
while the old generation lasted. The fields were 
small, the dogs not fast, and the birds none too 
plentiful. But there were as good shots as ever 
lived, and genuine sport. Nor have the right 
men been without sons to shoot and not shout ; 
to cany mannerly dogs, or none, to lands where 
they are guests. 

In the " Nation " 

My host led a double life. Between March and 
October he was a thriving farmer and stock-raiser. 
In the fall and winter he found daily sport and 
not a little profit in training dogs. In the eyes 
of the Indian law he was a laborer in the employ 
of a "citizen." In truth he was the master of 
broad acres of corn, wheat, and pasture land. 
Technically the land right was held by the mem- 
ber of the tribe, no outsider having the privilege ; 
my friend was his hired man. But that con- 
venient legal fiction did not prevent the " hired 
man " from managing the great farm, or series of 
farms, as if he were the proprietor, the nominal 
cultivator only receiving a share of the proceeds 
for his good luck in being a citizen of the 
" nation." 

It was a perfect country for the training of dogs. 



Sketches in the East and West 



281 



Quail were abundant, prairie chicken not at all 
scarce, and woodcock came along twice a year 
in fair numbers. As for snipe, there is little 
ground left in the States which can afford snipe 
shooting to be compared with the spring sport in 
parts of the territory. Broad, level prairies per- 
mitted the most ambitious dog to show his range. 
Patches of corn well dried by October were fa- 
vorite feeding spots for both chicken and quail and 
taught the dogs to come in close and proceed 
with caution ; while the many damp ravines or 
" draws," often thick with good-sized trees and 
bushes, were training schools of the same kind. 
When the weather was added to the other attrac- 
tions — the clear skies and dry air of October and 
November in the territory are the perfection of 
climate if there is anywhere perfection — the 
place was a happy hunting ground good enough 
for a shooting man who could choose immortality 
and forbid civilization to disturb the status. 

My entertainer's dog reputation tended as far 
North as Chicago and as far East as Memphis. 
He had acquired special repute for correcting 
faults which ignorant trainers or thoughtless 
owners had produced. This kind of fame was an 
annoyance. As he put it, he hardly ever saw a 
dog of unblemished character any more. Most of 
his training season was filled with work on the 
reformation of criminals. In the wire enclosure 



282 The Sporting Dog 

behind the house would often be thirty or forty 
dogs, almost every one the possessor of a de- 
spised vice. There were bolters, blinkers, and bird 
eaters ; there were the gun-shy, the jealous, and the 
savage. However, most of them belonged to men 
who had money to spend ; and the director of this 
odd reform school had a cool philosophy of life 
for himself, as well as that imperturbable patience 
which conquered the dog rascals. He did his 
work well and charged well. It cost him little 
to keep the dogs and every year he laid away in 
bank a useful addition to his farm revenues. 

When I woke at six o'clock in the morning it 
was to hear a repetition of decisive commands 
ringing out in the quiet dawn. " Halt ! " " Go 
on ! " " Pick it up ! " " Come in ! " I found the 
professor at work on a pupil in an enclosure forty 
feet square, wired off as a training yard. The dog 
was a two-year-old pointer, never before handled. 
A check-cord kept him under control. The lesson 
was in retrieving. 

" I'll tell you the biggest secret of training," said 
the tutor as he paused for a few minutes. " Once 
make a dog stop to order without question, and 
you've got him. To teach anything else comes 
easy ; because, in the first place, you can make 
him see what you want, and then you have him 
where he is already admitting your power instead 
of rollicking off on business of his own. I find 



Sketches in the East and 14^ est 283 

that the army people fastened on a good word 
when they selected 'halt' It is sharp and clear 
and unlike other words. I use it always and in- 
struct my customers to keep it up on dogs that I 
have handled." 

He turned to his labors. The pointer was un- 
willing and sulky, but the more he sulked the 
more positive the discipline. " Go on ! " The 
dog would crouch and refuse, but a touch of 
the whip would send him on. When halfway 
to the corner where lay the retrieving pad, he 
would hear the call " Halt ! " Then " Go on ! " 
Then " Halt ! " So two or three times until 
he reached the pad. " Pick it up ! " Grudg- 
ingly and mincingly he took the pad in his 
mouth. " Come in ! " and the cord was drawn in 
fast, hand over hand. " Sit down ! " He went on 
his haunches. " Deliver ! " He rose and held the 
pad to his tormentor and preceptor. 

" All this repeating looks foolish to you, maybe," 
said the trainer; "but I've been over it twenty 
times already with this dog and will go over it 
fifty times more. In two weeks he will forget 
all this sulkiness and be getting fun out of the 
thing. It's peculiar how much pleasure a dog 
finds in the mere faithful obedience to a com- 
mand when he learns that he is pleasing you and 
doing something in the way of a game with you 
for a partner." 



284 The Sporting Dog 

We had breakfast and the conveyance was 
brought up, a roomy spring wagon, the body 
of which, beyond the one front seat, was filled 
with a big, light crate, capable of holding eight 
or ten dogs. Two horses, of course. In the 
territory nobody ever did, as far as known, drive 
one horse. 

" We will go out about six miles to Duck Creek. 
I don't like to work dogs where there are fences. 
You can't follow them so well." 

So we plunged down the steep bank of the little 
river which ran through the ranch, and scrambled 
up the opposite steep bank, and struck out. Any- 
body could see that there would be quail all about, 
but we were not merely after quail and the wire 
fences were too many near the small settlement 
on one side of which was my friend's land. 

When we struck the open country it was a 
rolling prairie, a draw running through the cen- 
tre. Two of the dogs were put down, both set- 
ters, one of which, as the trainer said, did not 
retrieve at all, and the other a vast deal too much. 
Both ranged out far and fast, working their way 
toward the draw. We hurried along after them, 
bumping over the roadless prairie, which was not 
as smooth as it seemed. One of the dogs at- 
tracted my attention by running backward and 
forward in long casts over the same ground. I 
asked what he was about. 



Sketches in the East and West 285 

" He's blinking. There are birds and he won't 
leave them, but he won't point while he sees you. 
He doesn't trust strangers. He was thrashed 
severely several times when a pup for flushing, 
and he connected the punishment with the birds 
in his way of thinking. He's a brother to King's 
Rod. You know Rod was going to be one of 
the great champions, but he got handler-shy for 
the same reason. It took John L. Barker a 
whole season to drive the fear of birds out of 
Rod. All that Kingston litter were extremely 
sensitive to punishment. You take the team and 
pretend you are driving off. I'll get down and 
see whether Dick won't point." 

Sure enough, when I turned the team away, 
Dick cut his eye at me and gradually drew on 
a bevy of quail. When flushed, they scattered, 
near the draw. The trainer did not shoot, ex- 
plaining that he wished to have Tony under 
control before a bird fell. Each dog began to 
make single points rapidly. At every flush Tony 
would look eagerly for the bird to drop. With 
a dozen singles thus located in the draw, Dick 
was returned to the wagon and Tony left with 
the trainer. 

" Get down and watch this crazy retriever." 
We left the wagon standing and took up Tony's 
case. A single point in the draw, a plain flight, 
a clean shot, and a dead bird. It had scarcely 



286 The Sporting Dog 

touched the ground before Tony was after it. He 
jumped on it in a frenzy and began to crunch it. 
All the trainer's " Halts " had no effect. The bird 
was rescued in bad condition. 

" I shouldn't have let him go, but I wanted you 
to see how bad an eager dog, which naturally 
retrieves, can be made by a man who is excited 
about getting hold of every bird that falls. Some 
dogs soon begin to think of retrieving and nothing 
else. This is the worst I ever saw, but any high- 
strung dog can be spoiled when young by too 
much hurry in recovering birds." 

Next time a check-cord was snapped quietly 
on Tony's collar when he pointed. And he did 
point superbly, — perfect nose and immovable posi- 
tion. The bird was flushed and killed. At the 
instant of firing the trainer called," Halt! " Tony 
heeded nothing but the bird. But when he 
reached the length of the cord, he jerked himself 
off his feet. " Halt ! " again rang out twice. 
Tony came to his senses and stood ashamed. 
There was no whipping. The dog was led 
quietly to the bird, being compelled to stop three 
or four times on the way. When he reached the 
spot, he was still not allowed to pick up the bird, 
but several times checked within a foot. Finally 
the order to retrieve was given and sedately 
executed. The lesson was repeated several times, 
and in a half-hour Tony was, though not cheer- 



Sketches in the East and West 287 

ful about it, stopping at command and retrieving 
to order for the time being. 

We moved over to a part of the prairie where 
the draw began to be a creek bottom and a long 
strip of corn ran out from a small farm-house. 
Here was where we were to find some chicken. 

" Now I'll show you that bolter. You say you 
saw him cut his throat at the Indiana field trials. 
Well, he don't bolt now. I've had him two sea- 
sons, and he's just a great dog. Come, Boy." 

A tall, rangy Llewellin setter was thrown out. 
He swung off at a fast gallop and was soon far 
out, working toward the corn. A short, sharp 
whistle. Boy stopped and looked back. A wave 
of the arm sent him in a contrary direction. 
Another whistle, and he was sent back toward 
the corn. The whistle again, this time followed 
by prolonged notes. Boy came galloping in and 
brought himself to a standstill at the wagon. 

" You see that he is under control all right. 
And it was not much trouble. When he learned 
me and what I wanted, he quit his self-hunting. 
But with such a dog you have to be persistent 
from the first, or else you may be forced to use 
so much nagging that he becomes discouraged." 

Boy was sent out again. He pointed. A 
single old chicken rose wild. Instead of going 
into the corn, it rose high and started across 
the prairie in rhythmic, yellowhammer flight. It 



288 The Sporting Dog 

settled a half-mile away. Boy was waved an order 
to follow. He had been watching the bird and 
saw where it went down. He ran in a straight 
line until he was within a hundred yards. Then 
he slowed down to a trot and began quartering 
cautiously, coming nearer the bird with every 
turn. 

" That old cock will flush wild all day. We'll 
never get him, and it's no use keeping after him. 
But I call that a rather nice piece of bird sense 
for a fast dog." The chicken flushed wild, to be 
sure, and the dog was called in. 

" If you never saw a dog that would drive a 
man to drink, you'll see one now." 

Two dogs were put out. One was a clean- 
limbed, racy pointer bitch ; the other was a very 
handsome blue belton setter dog. 

" This setter is a grandson of Monk of Fur- 
ness, crossed on Gath's Mark blood. He is an 
extra good bird dog, but so jealous that he must 
get in front or die trying." 

The dogs went out gayly, the pointer at a 
remarkably fast and smooth gait. In a few 
minutes she had a point near the heavy grass at 
the edge of the bottom. 

" Never mind her. It's quail. Watch that 
brute." 

The setter caught sight of the point, flattened 
on the ground like a greyhound, and dashed 



Sketches in the East and IVest 289 

madly toward the tense figure of the bitch. As 
he approached he slackened speed, but did not 
stop until he was a length in front. He was too 
close and the bevy flushed. 

" It's not worth while to put him through his 
regular lesson here. It would do no good. I've 
simply got to make him stop a hundred times 
when I call and gradually get control over him 
in backing. He knows now that he's wrong, and 
for the sake of discipline I must dust his skin a 
little." Joe took his dusting meekly and went 
back to the crate. 

Then for the pointer. Her owner had spoiled 
her by teaching her to flush ahead of him. She 
had acquired a habit of flushing so far ahead that 
shooting was usually barren of results. When 
the gun was fifty yards away, she would go into 
the birds, in her owner's shooting. On the scat- 
tered birds which the setter had flushed she soon 
had a point. 

" After that rascal's flush she will be more 
uneasy on point than ever, but if I can conquer 
her now, it will be the best kind of experience. 
You stay here." 

The handler walked toward the point slowly, 
stopping quietly every few paces, and, as he came 
near, talking caution in level tones. 

" Ste-a-a-d-y-y, Queen ; who-o-o-a." 

The bitch shook like the aspen leaf of old. 



290 The Sporting Dog 

She was controlling herself with effort. But the 
leisurely movements, and slow, warning tones of 
the man had their effect on the responsive nature 
of the dog. He came almost close enough to 
get his hand on her ; not quite, though. At the 
last moment she could curb herself no longer, 
and jumped at the hiding quail. The handler 
reproved her with a stern word and let her go 
on, keeping her close ahead with repeated 
commands. 

" I shan't put on the cord if I can get on with- 
out. She must learn to let me get ahead of her." 

Next time the luck was better. She pointed in 
erect attitude, head up. The handler drew slowly 
near, crawling the last few steps to produce the 
imitative sense of caution. He got his hand on 
her collar and gradually drew in front, the bitch 
uneasy but not breaking her point. He let her 
follow, moving very slowly, for the short distance 
before he flushed the bird. But he flushed ; not 
she. That was the object of the meeting and it 
was accomplished, not only that time but several 
times before the opportunities on the scattered 
birds were exhausted. 

We spent the day in the same fashion, putting 
down each delinquent more than once, and repeat- 
ing the respective lessons. Each time there was 
some improvement, except with the jealous Joe. 
If the handler happened to be very close to the 



Sketches in the East and West 291 

point, he could stop the dog to a reluctant back, 
but to get the point ahead was a literal mania. 
In fact, the dog never was cured. With my 
friend, the handler, he became prompt to back, 
but in the hands of his owner or anybody else, he 
steals and ravishes points to this day. 

That trip to the territory was one of the most 
illuminating experiences I have ever had with 
dogs. It was not all spent in the reform school 
exercises. There were days of unequalled quail 
and chicken shooting over better-behaved dogs. 
But one can get shooting in any state. One 
finds a born handler only here and there. The 
patience, coolness, and discrimination are given 
to few men. Every field shot should have a 
course of instruction with such a handler, that 
he may learn how easily dog vices are developed 
by unschooled human habits, and how easily 
cured by intelligent persistence. 

Our Derby Entries 

Figuring on his string of two-year-olds in the 
winter is no more racking and no more pleasur- 
able to the racing owner than is the testing of 
his Derby candidates to the field trial sportsman. 
He is hopeful and apprehensive. Some of the 
pups have shown quality, but all have defects. 
He cannot know what new marvel the other 



292 The Sporting Dog 

fellow may have ready to spring. He cannot 
exactly remember how and by what balance the 
winners of last year beat the good non-winners. 
From experience he is aware that he may leave 
at home the youngster which would win, and may 
waste the season on one which does not exactly 
please the judges. The same experience has 
taught him that the saddest and costliest words 
with which a performer before the public can be 
labelled are " nearly, but not quite." For the 
dog public is to the full as fickle and cruel as the 
political public or the dramatic public. The star 
of the day or of the season is lifted on a pedestal, 
and the " almost as good " is lashed down to the 
plug ranks with contemptuous adjectives. 

Picking puppies for the Derbies is picking 
everything a pointer or setter can possess of 
merit. It is picking bird sense, obedience, style, 
speed, and pluck. It is also picking health and 
good digestion. Just what degree of superiority 
here or there will capture the judges is a doubt- 
ful proposition in advance ; but it is certain that 
to win, a dog cannot be conspicuously weak in 
any standard attribute. And if he be not a good 
" doer," able to eat well and keep in shape under 
vicissitudes of travel and excitement, his chance 
is small. 

Perhaps it is in May, when the professional 
handlers are going to the Northwest to prepare 



Sketches in the East and West 293 

for the big circuit of trials. Perhaps it is in 
August, when the more amateur-Hke owners and 
trainers are to take a fling at the nearest state 
trials — maybe Virginia or Alabama or New York 
or Connecticut. Wherever it is, the rules are 
about the same, and the competition will be stiff 
enough to call for the best dog you can turn out. 
And the best Derby dog is simply the dog 
which, with experience and stricter training, will 
be the best shooting dog. It is the pup with a 
nose to locate surely, ambition to carry it fast, 
and style to please the eye. You may hear of 
good shooting dogs as if they were something 
totally different from field trial dogs, but the 
better the shooting dog, the nearer it is to being 
a field trial winner. I never quite understood 
of what a grouse or snipe or woodcock dog is 
compounded, I never saw a dog kept exclusively 
for snipe or grouse ; and but one kept primarily 
for woodcock, that one being a black-and-white 
setter owned by a market hunter on the best 
woodcock ground in the world. The sportsmen 
whom I have met shoot snipe and ruffed grouse 
over their dogs when they can find the game, 
but they take that kind of luck as it comes. To 
choose a dog for ruffed grouse and hunt only for 
grouse would be in any country I have seen a 
queer use of time. In New England it may be 
different, but surely not different in any state 



294 The Sporting Dog 

south of Long Island. I would not call that man 
much of a handler, or much of an amateur with 
dogs, for that matter, who could not adjust range 
and speed as he pleased. When you want range 
you " want it bad," and when you want close work 
you can get it ; so it's wise to have the speed and 
range available. The quail we have with us 
always. The snipe and woodcock may show up 
and may not. 

So, when picking our Derby entries, we are 
picking shooting dogs which will beat our friends' 
shooting dogs in finding and working game. 

The wise old handler and I went out to say the 
final word about five young dogs averaging a year 
and a half in age. In past seasons we had en- 
countered some fair luck ; some unpleasantly bad. 
This time w^e were after a sure thing, and our 
twain wisdom was enough to tell us that from the 
sure thing we must deduct twenty per cent for 
our optimism and twenty more for the difference 
between the best private test and the subsequent 
public performances. Ask any piano player or 
opera singer about that last twenty per cent, and 
he will say that it is not far from the safe rule. 
Somehow, everything seems to dwindle between 
the last evidence of private capacity and the first 
time the performer measures up against the big 
world. 

We had Dan, a rangy, ragged, but light-going 



Sketches in the East and IV est 295 

liver-and-'vvhite pointer, from a Jingo — Dot's Pearl 
— sire and a dam tracing to Croxteth and 
Sensation ; Jeff, a white-black-tan Llewellin, by 
Sport's Gath, dam by Cincinnatus's Pride ; Lucy, 
a Llewellin, by Count Whitestone out of a Marie's 
Sport dam ; Susan, an orange-and-white pointer, 
by a son of Rip Rap; Bricks, an orange bel- 
ton Laverack of unusual speed showing, and an 
experiment. 

We decided that it would be best to take them 
where they had never seen the ground and run 
them in braces. The spot was an open stretch 
of pasture and wheat land in Illinois ; no better 
bird country for trying out dogs in the late 
summer. 

First Dan and Lucy went down. For fifteen 
minutes we watched and followed them. 

" Well, what do you say ? Dan's a good pup, 
but I don't quite like his style." 

" No ; nor L He's the best bird dog of the 
bunch. Isn't he a serious chap.? No play with 
Dan. He's as sure and stanch as any old dog, 
and he has speed. But he isn't quite fast enough 
to be a whirlwind, and he carries his head down 
level with his shoulders, and his tail is like a 
stick tacked on his hips ; he's all dog, and I want 
to have the finishing of him, but I'm not crazy 
about his chances in a Derby." 

" Lucy, the little fraud, could do the trick if she 



296 The Sporting Dog 

would, but she looks too ladylike to me. One 
minute she skims over the stubble as if she didn't 
touch it, and the next she is following Dan and 
just waiting to see what he will do. She has gait 
and sweet style and a long-range nose, but there 
isn't enough devil in her. If she would get down 
to strict business, her ticket would be good for 
some end of any money. But in a pinch she'd 
just about give us this Alphonse and Gaston act, 
and they'd laugh at our nice little girl." 

" Look at Dan. Now, isn't that a dog for 
keeps } He went at that point too far off, but he 
was sure, and never moved while Lucy danced 
into the birds. I pretty near think he'll have to 
be entered, and let his style come out the best it 
can. He's the same every hour in the day, and 
can go that lick just as long as any dog in the 
kennel will stay with him." 

" That will do to think over. Put them up and 
try Jeff and Susan." 

Susan was much like Lucy, but lacking the 
airy gait; a jolly, choppy little miss; friendly 
with us and with her mate ; tolerable in speed 
when the notion took her, but having no fighting 
blood to kindle the spirit of contest or the desire 
for prey. Jeff was a biggish puppy of ample range 
and of more speed than he seemed to have. For 
field trial purposes he did not have enough of a 
dash-away spurt on the start. Even chubby little 



Sketches in the East and West 197 

Susan led him out for the first hundred yards; 
and he had a tendency to false point. He was 
perfectly independent in ranging and, if he did 
not check himself for a half-point at nothing, 
would go faster and faster for a long cast. 

" I believe I can make a first-class all-age dog 
of Jeff," said the handler, "but I don't believe 
there's time to get him over these ways this fall. 
He's going to need forcing away from rabbits and 
stinkbirds, and a good lot of quail and chicken 
killed over him to make him want to get there 
from the start. It looks to me as if his mind 
needed making up about what he's out for. He 
can go fast, and he acts as if he had the stuff in 
him. I look for him to get better all the time. 
Susan will have more friends if she never goes 
to the trials. Most people would love her for a 
shooting dog. A boy could handle her in a 
week. She just naturally likes to please. Some 
of these fellows who can't manage a wide-going 
dog would be tickled with her. You could work 
her on any game you pleased. You're the home- 
body. Miss Susan." 

Dan was brought out again as a trial horse for 
the Laverack. The latter had a jaunty, cocky 
style, head well up and stern switching merrily. 
There was nothing to keep him from being a 
fast dog except his disposition. With good 
conformation and free action, he went a pace at 



298 The Sporting Dog 

times that raised hopes, but he had no eagerness 
of ranging and would circle and come back, or 
stop and nose into bushes or fence corners. The 
difference between him and the plainer pointer 
was the difference between the dilettante and 
the unswerving worker. Tie tin cans to their 
tails, and Bricks would probably have reached 
home first; his capacity for extreme speed was 
greater. In actual work the pointer would have 
been ahead of him on the outside, the inside, 
around, across, and in every other direction where 
birds were to be found. The Laverack was a 
beauty in style, and it was easy to see that in a 
brushy country of small field enclosures he might 
be a charming dog. He would cover such a coun- 
try pretty fast. But, hunted from horseback or a 
wagon, he would be behind the gun half the time. 

We changed them around and tried the setters 
together and then the pointers. With some minor 
variations the outcome was the same. In fact, all 
through we were merely confirming what we had 
found out before but did not like to admit. 

" I tell you what we'll do. It's no fun getting 
beaten. As it stands to-day, Dan is the best pup 
we have, and he is not classy enough. Jeff will 
be in it next year, but that's not this year. Lucy 
has the foot of the party and the class, but she 
keeps both for seldom occasions. She is not 
reliable. Susan and Bricks are out of it entirely. 



Sketches in the East and West 299 

There are too many ' buts ' and ' ifs ' to spend 
entry fees and express charges on. We'll go to 
the trials and have fun with the other boys. And 
then we'll do as Jim Martin did. Two years ago 
he had a Rodfield pup which died just before the 
trial season opened. He's like the fishing man who 
let the six-pound bass get away. That pup was 
the most remarkable of all pups when he was on 
earth. He's been getting greater and greater 
every day since. Jim has lied about him until 
the tales have become sacred history. We must 
break a pup's leg, and then tell about what would 
have happened to the duffers at the trials if we 
had just brought our dog." 

And that's how we had strictly talking parts at 
the trials of one season. 



APPENDIX 

BENCH-SHOW STANDARDS AND FIELD- 
TRIAL RULES 

POINTER 

Head large, flat, stop well defined, and with a depression running 
from stop to occiput ; full development of occipital bone imperative. 
Nose large, long, deep, and broad (black in all except lemon-and- 
white, when it should be deep flesh color). Nostrils large and 
open. Ears moderately long, filbert shaped and lying flat ; set low, 
thin leather. Eyes medium size, not set wide apart, and of various 
shades of brown, varying with color of coat. Lips full, not thick nor 
pendulous. 

Neck arched, firm, round, not too short ; no tendency to throati- 
ness, 710 dewlap. Shoulders long and sloping. Chest deep, with 
narrow sternum. Ribs moderately spnmg, not flat. Loins broad 
and slightly arched. Hips thick, strong, and muscular. Stifles well 
bent. Front legs should be straight and strong. Hind legs well 
crooked and well muscled. Feet of good size, but not too large ; 
round and catlike. Pads full and tough. Nails short and thick, 
with plenty of hair between toes. Tail set on well up, and taper to 
a decided point, the straighter the better ; carried low, and action 
free. Coat fairly dense, and not too soft. Color, liver-and-white, 
black-and-white, orange-and-white, whole black, or whole liver. 

Scale of Points. — Skull and nose (lo), 20; eyes, ears, lips, 4; 
neck, 6; shoulders and chest, 15 ; hindquarters and stifles, 15 ; legs, 
elbows, and hocks, 12; feet (8), tail (5), coat (3), 16; color (5), 
symmetry and quality (7), 12. 

STANDARD OF ENGLISH SETTER CLUB 

(England, followed by Laverack men in America) 

Scale. — Head, 20 ; neck, 5 ; body, 30 ; legs and feet, 20 ; tail, 5 ; 
symmetry, coat, and feathering, 1 5 ; color and markings, 5 ; total, 100. 

301 



302 Appendix 

Head. — Should be long and lean, with a well-defined stop. The 
skull oval from ear to ear, showing plenty of brain room, and with a 
well-defined occipital protuberance. The muzzle moderately deep 
and fairly square ; from the stop to the point of the nose should be 
long, the nostrils wide, and the jaws of nearly equal length ; flews 
not to be pendulous ; the color of the nose should be black, or dark, 
or light liver, according to the color of the coat. The eyes should 
be bright, mild, and intelligent, and of a dark hazel color — the 
darker the better. The ears of moderate length, set on low, and 
hanging in neat folds close to the cheek ; the tip should be velvety, 
the upper part clothed with fine, silky hair. 

Neck. — Should be rather long, muscular, and lean, slightly arched 
at the crest, and clean cut where it joins the head ; toward the 
shoulder it should be larger and very muscular, not throaty, though the 
skin is loose below the throat, elegant and bloodlike in appearance. 

Body. — Should be of moderate length, with shoulders well set 
back, or oblique ; back short and level ; loins wide, slightly arched, 
strong, and muscular. Chest deep in the brisket, with good round, 
widely sprung ribs, deep in the back ribs ; that is, well ribbed up. 

Legs and Feet. — Stifles well bent and strong, thighs long from 
hip to hock. The forearm big and very muscular, the elbow well 
let down. Pastern short, muscular, and straight. The feet very 
close and compact, and well protected by hair between the toes. 

Tail. — The tail should be set on almost in a line with the back ; 
medium length, not curly or ropy ; to be slightly curved or scimitar 
shaped, but with no tendency to turn upward ; the flag or feather 
hanging in long pendant flakes. The feather should not commence 
at root, but slightly below, and increase in length to the middle, then 
gradually taper off toward the end ; and the hair long, bright, soft, 
and silky, wavy but not curly. 

Symmetry, Coat, and Feathering. — The coat from the back of the 
head in a line with the ears ought to be straight, long, and silky (a 
slight wave in it not objectionable), which should be the case with 
the coat generally ; the breeches and forelegs, nearly down to the 
feet, should be well feathered. 

Color and Markings. — The color may be either black-and-white, 
orange-and-white, lemon-and-white, liver-and-white, or tricolor, that 
is, black-white-tan ; those without heavy patches of color on the 
body, but flecked all over, preferred. 



Appendix 303 



STANDARD OF ENGLISH SETTER CLUB 

(America. Called the Llewellin Standard. Adopted in 1900. Followed by 
field trial or Llewellin men) 

Head (20). — The form of the skull is an eminent characteristic. 
It is not so heavy as that of the pointer and is relatively without the 
furrow and marked prominence of the occipital bone, which should 
be but slightly defined. The skull, with moderate dome, should 
be long and narrow, rather than wedge shaped between the ears. 
The brows should be at a sharp and decided angle from the nose. 
The stop should be well defined and clean cut, with a slight furrow 
between the eyes. 

The nose should be long, and of width in harmony with the skull, 
without any fulness under the eyes. Its length should be from 
three and one-half to four and one-half inches, from the inner cor- 
ner of the eye to the end of the nose, according to the size of the 
dog; four inches should represent the average. 

Between the eyes and point of the nose the line of the muzzle 
should be straight. A dish-faced or a Roman nose is objectionable. 

The nostrils should be wide apart and wide in the openings ; the 
end of the nose should be moist and cool ; black or dark liver in 
color, except that in white, or lemon-and-white, dogs a pink nose 
may be pardoned. 

The jaws should be exactly equal in length. A "snipe nose" or 
" pig jaw," as the short receding jaw is called, is a serious fault. 

The lips should be of a form to show a rather square muzzle, but 
should not be too full and pendant at the angles, nor reach the 
extent of hanging. 

The eyes should be set with their angles straight across. They 
must be full of animation, with the width between them in propor- 
tion to the size of the head and face. They should be equally free 
from a close-set and fi"om a wide, staring expression. The best 
color is a rich brown. 

The ears should be carried closely to the cheeks and hung well 
back and set low, of moderate length, slightly rounded at the ends, 
without the slightest tendency to prick or to show the inside ; the 
leather thin and soft and clothed with silky hair about two inches 
long. 



304 Appendix 

As a whole, though avoiding both extremes of lightness and heavi- 
ness, the head should be light rather than heavy, clean cut, of length 
and size in harmony with the body and possessing true EngHsh 
setter character. 

Neck (5). — The neck should be long and lean, gradually widen- 
ing from the head to the shoulders, and joining them in a graceful 
curve. It must not be throaty. 

Shoulders and Chest (15). — The shoulders and chest should not 
be too heavy ; they should be formed to admit perfect freedom of 
action to the forelegs when in an extended stride. 

The shoulder-blades should be deep, wide, sloping well back, and 
standing close together at the top, and the chest between the 
shoulder-blades should be of moderate depth, and thin enough to 
allow the shoulders to lie flat and move with freedom ; of such pro- 
portions as not to suggest undue weight on the forelegs, either great 
depth or great width at this point being objectionable. 

The wide or round chest between the shoulder-blades, forcing 
them wide apart, is a most objectionable form. The drop in the 
chest should be just back of the elbows, the chest sloping upward 
from this point toward the neck, permitting the dog to carry his 
neck and head up with ease. Back of the shoulders and of the play 
of the forelegs, the ribs should spring gradually to the middle and 
then gradually lessen to the back ribs, which should have good 
depth. 

Back and Loin (10). — The loin should be strong, with moderate 
length, slightly arched, but not to the extent of being roached or 
wheel backed. 

The back should be strong at its junction with the loin, sloping 
upward in a slight rise to the top of the shoulders, the whole form- 
ing a graceful outline of medium length. Any sway or drop in the 
back is objectionable. 

Hips, Quarters, and Stifles (10). — The hip bones should be promi- 
nent and wide apart, but not enough so as to give them a ragged 
appearance. There should be good length, and without too sudden 
droop, from them to the whirlbone at the root of the tail ; the quar- 
ters should be wide at the top and well muscled. The stifles should 
be well bent, but not exceedingly so. 

Legs, Elbows, Hocks, and Feet (15). — The arm should be flat, 
muscular, strong, with bone fully developed, and with muscles hard 



Appendix 305 

and devoid of flabbiness ; of good length from the point of shoulder 
to the elbow, well let down at such angles as will bring the legs fairly 
under the dog, the elbows in proper position being on a line with the 
bottom of the chest. 

The elbows and toes should have the same direction, turning 
neither in nor out, pointing straight from rear to front; if not 
straight, the inturned leg and toes are the less objectionable. The 
foreleg should be flat, and taper gradually from the elbow to the 
pastern joint ; it should feel hard and flinty, with no looseness of 
skin. The pasterns should be short, strong, and nearly round, with 
the slope from the pastern joint to the foot deviating but slightly 
from the perpendicular. 

The hind legs should have wide, muscular thighs, a well-developed 
lower thigh, and wide, flat hocks ; the cowhock is to be avoided. 

The feet need careful consideration, as the utility of the dog de- 
pends upon them. Of the two types, the round, or catfoot, is much 
to be preferred to the long or harefoot. The feet should be closely 
set and strong ; well padded, with toes well arched, and clothed with 
short and thick hair. 

Stern (5). — The stern, as the tail is termed, should be carried 
straight, or with a slight curve upward, not higher than slightly 
above the level of the back. Any tendency to curl upward or side- 
ways is a fault. It should taper to a fine point, with only length 
enough to reach the hocks, or less. The feather must be straight, 
silky, falling loosely in a fringe, and tapering to a point when the tail 
is raised. There must be no bushiness whatever. 

Coat and Feather (5). — The coat should be flat and of moderate 
length, with an absence of curl. In condition it shows gloss and 
quality. It should not be too long or soft, nor woolly, yet fine 
enough to preserve the setter character. The feather on the legs 
should be thin and regular. 

Color and Markings (5). — Color is a matter of fancy, and too 
much stress should not be laid upon it. Black-white-tan, black- 
and-white, blue belton, lemon-and-white, lemon belton, orange-and- 
white, orange belton, liver-and-white, liver belton, solid white, black- 
and-liver, are recognized colors. 

Symmetry, Size, and Weight (10). — The harmony of all the parts 
is to be estimated. Symmetrical dogs will be slightly higher at the 
shoulders than at the hips. The judge is specially directed to look 

X 



3o6 Appendix 

for that balance and harmony of proportion, and style of natural 
movement, which suggest the rapidity, ease, and endurance needed 
in a high and maintained rate of speed, rather than for the excellence 
of any particular part ; to disapprove of undue massiveness, coarse- 
ness, and clumsiness, lack of size and absence of setter character, no 
matter what the outline may be. Experience indicates that the best 
size for dogs is from forty to fifty-five pounds, for bitches thirty-five 
to fifty pounds. Taste and the particular kind of work required may 
govern to some extent, but it may be said that the most useful set- 
ters, as a rule, are in weight midway between the extremes men- 
tioned. The height should be about twenty-two to twenty-three 
inches at the shoulder in dogs, and twenty-one to twenty-two in 

bitches. 

IRISH SETTER 

The head of this setter is long and lean, skull oval, well-defined 
occipital protuberance ; brows raised, muzzle moderately deep, fairly 
square at end. Nostrils wide, jaws of nearly equal length ; flews fiot 
pendulous ; nose dark mahogany or chocolate ; eyes rich hazel or 
brown. Ears of moderate size, fine in texture, set on low, and well 
back. 

Neck moderately long, very muscular. Shoulders deep and slop- 
ing ; chest rather narrow but deep ; ribs well sprung ; loins muscular 
and slightly arched ; hindquarters powerful. Hindlegs to hocks 
strong and muscular ; hocks to heel short and strong. Stifles well 
bent. Forelegs with plenty of bone ; elbows well let down, inclined 
neither in nor out. Feet rather small, very firm ; toes strong, arched, 
and close together. 

Tail moderate length, set on low, tapering to a point, carried 
scimitar-like or straight. Coat on head, front of legs, and tips of 
ears, short and fine ; on other parts, of moderate length, flat, free 
from curl or wave. Feather on upper part of ears, back of fore and 
hind legs long and fine ; hair on tail of moderate length. All feath- 
ering as straight and flat as possible. 

Color, golden chestnut or mahogany red, with no trace of black. 
White on chest, throat, toes ; streak on nose or face ; small star on 
forehead not to disqualify. 

Scale of Points. — Head, lo; eyes, ears, neck (5), 15; body, 15; 
shoulders, forelegs, and feet, 12; hindlegs, 10; tail, coat, and feather 
(8), 16; color, 8 ; size and style, 14. 



Appendix 307 



GORDON SETTER 

The Duke of Gordon claims to be the originator of this breed 
(1820). The points of the Gordon setter are very nearly the same 
as those of the English setter, except as follows : The skull is some- 
what heavier than that of the English dog, but in other respects is 
about the same. The nose, too, is a trifle wider. In shape, the flag 
is the same as the English setter, except that it is a little shorter ; 
the coat is certainly denser and coarser than either the Irish or Eng- 
lish setter, inclined in very many good specimens to a decided curl, 
though a curl is not to be sought after in this breed. 

The coat is a point much insisted upon. The black should be 
rich and glossy, and the tan a deep, rich mahogany red, without the 
slightest trace of fawn or yellow. The tan should appear on lips, 
cheeks, throat, spot over the eyes, forelegs nearly to elbows ; hind- 
legs as far as the stifles, and on the ttnder side of the flag, but not 
extending to the long hairs. These are the only two colors admitted 
on the Gordon, though a little white is not seriously objected to, yet 
it is considered by good judges as a decided blemish. The prize 
winners of to-day are absolutely free from white. 

Scale of Points. — Skull, lo; nose, lo; eyes, lips, and ears, 4; 
shoulders and chest, 15; back, quarters, and stifles, 15; legs, 12; 
neck, 6 ; feet, 8 ; flag, 5 ; symmetry and quality, 5 ; texture of coat 
and feather, 5 ; color, 5. 

STANDARD OF CHESAPEAKE BAY DOG CLUB 

Head, including ears, lips, and eyes, 14; neck, 6; shoulders and 
chest, 14; back, quarters, and stifles, 14; legs, elbows, hocks, and 
feet, 14; stern, 4; symmetry and quality, 6; coat and texture, 16; 
color, 12 ; total, 100 points. 

The head is broad, running to nose only a trifle pointed, but not 
at all sharp ; eyes of yellow color. 

Ears small and placed well up on the head. 

Face should be covered with very short hair. 

Neck only moderately long, and with firm, strong appearance. 

Shoulders and chest full liberty, with plenty of show for power and 
no tendency to restrictions of movement ; chest strong and deep. 

Back, quarters, and stifles fully as much if not more powerful than 



3o8 Appendix 

forequarters, and be capable of standing prolonged strain, and ten- 
dency to weakness must be avoided. 

Ducking on the broad waters of the Chesapeake Bay involves, at 
times, facing heavy tides and seas, and in cases of following wounded 
fowl a dog is frequently subjected to a long swim. 

The legs, elbows, and hocks should therefore be short, showing 
both bone and muscle, and with well-webbed feet, of good size. The 
forelegs should be rather straight and symmetrical. It is to be un- 
derstood that short legs do not convey the idea of a dumpy forma- 
tion. The elbows should be well let down, and set straight for 
development of easy movement. 

The stern should be stout, somewhat long, the straighter the 
better, and showing only moderate feather. 

The Chesapeake Bay dog should show a bright, hvely, intelligent 
expression, with general outlines good at all points. In fact, he 
should be a dog worthy of notice in any company. 

The coat and texture should be short and thick, somewhat coarse, 
with tendency to wave over the shoulders, back, and loins, where it 
is longest. It must be nowhere over one and one-quarter to one and 
one-half inches long. That on flanks, legs, and belly should be 
shorter, tapering to quite short near the feet. Under all there should 
be a short, woolly fur, which should well cover the skin, and readily 
be observed by pressing aside the outer coat. This coat preserves 
the dog from the eflfect of wet and cold, and enables him to stand 
severe exposure, a shake or two throwing off all water. 

The color should nearly resemble wet sedge grass, though toward 
spring it becomes much lighter by exposure to the weather. A 
small, white spot or frill on the breast is admissible. Color is im- 
portant, as the dog in most cases is apt to be outside the blind, con- 
sequently too dark a color is objectionable. The deep liver color of 
the spaniel makes a much greater contrast, and is therefore to be 
avoided. 

The weight should be about sixty pounds. Too large a dog is 
unwieldy and lacks quickness of movement. Bitches are usually 
smaller than the dogs, but not necessarily so. 

ENGLISH FOXHOUND 

The head is large, but not heavy, brow pronounced, but not high, 
of good length, making girth about i6 inches. Nose long and wide ; 



Appendix 309 

ears set low and lying close to cheek. Neck long and clean without 
throatiness. Shoulders long, well muscled, sloping, and the true 
arm long and muscular. 

Girth of chest 30 inches in a 24-inch tall dog. Back ribs very 
deep. Back and loins very muscular ; couplings very wide even to 
raggedness, with slight arch of loins. Hindquarters very strong, 
elbows set straight, neither in nor out. Legs perfectly straight and 
strong, large size of bone at ankle all-important ; feet round, catlike, 
and strong. Color black-white-tan, black-and-white, and various 
pies of white and the color of the hare and badger. Coat dense, 
short, hard, and glossy. Stern gradually arched, carried gayly over 
back, fringed with hair and tapering to a point. 

Scale of Points. — Head, 15; neck, 5; shoulders, 10; chest and 
back ribs, 10; back and loins, 10; hindquarters, 10; elbows, 5 ; legs 
and feet, 20 ; color and coat, 5 ; stern, 5 ; symmetry, 5. 

American foxhounds are judged according to the idea of more 
lightness and activity all through. In American hounds the black- 
and-tan, with little or no white, and the tan or red, with a small area 
of white, find as breed colors more indulgence than in the English. 

BEAGLE 

(American Beagle Club) 

A miniature foxhound, solid and big for his inches, with the wear- 
and-tear look of the dog that can last in the chase and follow his 
quarry to the death. 

In head he differs in an appreciable degree from the foxhound. 

Head. — Skull moderately domed at occiput; cranium broad and 
full ; ears set on low, long and fine in texture, front edge closely 
framing and inturned to cheek, rather broad, rounded at tips, and 
with an almost entire absence of erectile power at their origin. 

Eyes full, prominent, rather wide apart, soft and lustrous, brown 
or hazel in color ; orbital processes (eyebrows) well developed ; 
expression gentle, subdued, and pleading. 

The muzzle of medium length, squarely cut, and stop well defined. 

Jaws level ; indentation between eyes ; lips with only moderate 
flews. 

Nostrils large, moist, and open. 

In other parts he should resemble the foxhound, and be as strongly, 



3IO Appendix 

perhaps even more symmetrically, made with an equal development 
of quality and character. 

Size is of importance ; this dog must not exceed fifteen inches in 
height at the shoulder. 

IRISH WATER-SPANIEL 

General appearance is that of a handsome, strong, rather leggy 
dog, with very striking physical characteristics. 

Head. — Skull of medium length, rather broad, with but a slight 
stop ; muzzle long and broad to the end ; eyes dark brown and with 
an intelligent expression ; ears long and covered with curls. 

Chest. — Deep rather than wide. Loin somewhat arched. 

Stern. — Strong at root, tapering to a fine point ; hair on it very 
short, straight, and close lying. 

Legs and Feet. — Legs long, but strong in bone ; feet somewhat 
large. Stifles rather straight ; hocks well let down. 

Coat. — All over little curls, hard and not woolly. On forehead a 
top-knot of long hair, falling over eyes in a peak. Legs to have as 
little feather as possible. 

Color. — A rich dark liver, free from white, though a httle of the 
latter on breast or toes should not disqualify. 

FOX TERRIER 

(Condensed from Charles H. Lane's " All About Dogs," published by John 
Lane, New York) 

The points of greatest importance in the fox terrier are head, ears, 
legs and feet, neck and shoulders, back, loin and hindquarters, smart- 
ness, activity, size, and " terrier character." 

Head. — The skull should be flat and moderately narrow, broader 
between the ears and gradually tapering to the eyes, free from wrinkle. 
But little slope, or indentation, should be visible, except in profile. 
The jaw should be clean cut, rather long, powerful, and muscular, 
with little or any fulness or bulging out at the cheeks. There is a 
very slight falling away below the eyes, but this must be very gradual, 
and not to such an extent as to give a snipey, or wedgy, appearance, 
The lips should be fairly tight, without any superfluous skin. The 
nose must be quite black. Stern set on rather high, carried gayly, 



Appendix 3 1 1 

not carried above a " right angle " with back ; if anything, a trifle 
coarse. 

Legs and Feet. — Point of extreme value, to which greatest atten- 
tion should be given. Elbows well let down, in straight line with 
body. Forelegs, however viewed, "straight as gun barrels," with 
upright, powerful pasterns ; strong in bone, clothed with muscle 
from elbow to foot, giving a most solid, unbroken appearance ; feet 
round and catlike, very compact, toes short and only moderately 
arched, soles hard as adamant ; foot should neither turn in or out, — 
if any deviation, should turn in ; no dewclaws behind. 

The coat should be smooth, harsh in texture, very close and 
abundant, a jacket to protect wearer from all weathers. Colors : 
white should predominate. Brindle, fallow, liver, or red markings 
are objectionable. 

Size. — The fox terrier must neither be leggy nor too near the 
ground ; neither must he be cloddy, but should have plenty of 
'' liberty " and galloping power, with good bone and substance, fair 
speed and endurance being essentially requisite for his legitimate 
calling. Seventeen pounds in hard working condition is a fair aver- 
age weight, but this may vary a pound or so either way. Make, 
shape, good shoulders, and chest being far better criterions, in this 
respect, than actual weight. 

The above applies to smooth, but is also an excellent standard for 
wire-hair fox terriers, which are judged on same lines, except coat, 
which in the latter should be about two inches long, and very dense 
and wiry, not shaggy or woolly, on any account. 

FIELD TRIALS — RUNNING RULES 

(Field rules are about the same in all clubs. In championship stakes the 
heats are required to be of greater length than in ordinary open events — usually 
three hours) 

Dogs shall be drawn by lot, and numbered in the order drawn. 
Each dog shall nm in the first series as a brace with the next avail- 
able dog in that order. After the first series has been run through, 
the judges shall announce which dogs they wish to see run again 
and the order of running them, and the judges shall have the power 
of calling up and running again any dog or dogs irrespective of 
previous announcements. Discretion is given the judges to run the 



3 1 2 Appendix 

dogs as often and in whatever order they wish, until they are satisfied 
which are the best dogs ; but they may announce the winners any 
time after the first series ; provided the first and second prize winners 
shall have run together. 

The number of times a dog points, backs, etc., shall not necessa- 
rily give him the preference ; but the judges shall consider the quality 
of the performance rather than the frequency of the occurrence, and 
shall give greater credit to the dog showing in the highest degree 
those qualities which are essential to a good field dog for practical 
use. The judges may run the dogs in braces or separately, as they 
may desire, the competing dog being kept at heel when mn sepa- 
rately. The standard of work shall be a well-balanced performance ; 
that is to say, the judges will consider the quality commonly called 
" bird sense " ; the intelligent and useful beating out of the ground 
within proper limits ; roading and pointing ; ability to find ; obedi- 
ence, and work to the gun ; speed, range, nose, and endurance. This 
is intended to include all the details, such as backing, general train- 
ing, etc. As to ranging, the judges will consider long straightway 
casts as faulty work if there are available sections left unworked, 
and if the casts mentioned are habitual. This shall not apply to a 
long cast taken intelligently betimes to work out a likely place when 
the ground is unfavorable near at hand, providing the dog's usual 
range is good. Swinging repeatedly around behind the handler at 
the end of a cast, working the same ground over frequently, leaving 
repeatedly good ground unworked, frittering away time on bare, un- 
promising ground, running with no purpose of finding, and looking 
much after the handler, are faulty methods. Continual whistling and 
assistance on the part of the handler will also lower the dog's per- 
formance. A dog must obey commands with reasonable prompt- 
ness. Loud and continuous whistling or shouting will seriously 
impair a dog's standing in the competition. As to pointing, back- 
ing, roading, and drawing, a distinction shall be made between what 
the dog does himself and what the handler does for him. Coaching 
and helping a dog in general when he is on the scent of birds must 
lower the grade of his performance. When, through the marking of 
birds, one handler has succeeded in getting more points for his dog 
than his competitor, the judges must consider the merit of the dog 
independently of his handler's assistance. Working to the gun is of 
great consideration. Faults of puppies in this respect may be treated 



Appendix 313 

more leniently than similar faults of dogs in the all-age stake. The 
purpose of the trials is to determine which dogs have the best natural 
qualities and are the best field dogs for practical use. 

The perfect training and obedience of a dog shall not be necessary 
to entitle him to win, natural merit being paramount. But every 
dog must be so trained and under such control as to be susceptible 
of handling to such an extent as to be of use in actual hunting on 
the field and to enable the judges to properly judge of his merit as a 
field dog. The purpose of the bird dog being to aflFord sportsmen 
pleasant experience on the field, it is necessary for every dog in the 
trials to be properly trained. 

RUNNING RULES FOR BEAGLE TRIALS 

(National Beagle Club of America. Foxhound trial rules, except that shoot- 
ing is not considered, are in general on similar lines. Foxhound trials do not 
present brace competitions. The hounds are run as a pack and the losers 
weeded or spotted out) 

After the running of the first series is finished, the judges shall 
announce which dogs they wish to see run again and order of run- 
ning them. Discretion is given the judges to run the dogs as often 
and in what order they think best, until they are satisfied which are 
the best dogs. 

If competition is close, the judges are requested to give greater 
credit to the dog that is obedient to the commands of his handler. 
A dog will be expected to maintain an efficient range throughout a 
heat and to show hunting sense in his work. Hunting sense is 
shown by the desire to hunt for game, the selection of likely places 
to hunt in, the method of hunting the places, the industry in staying 
out at work, and the skill in handling and trailing the game after it 
is found. 

The judges are instructed not to place undue credit on speed, it 
being the desire of the Club that accuracy in trailing, voice, endur- 
ance, starting abilities, style, and obedience be the principal points 
of merit, but nothing in the foregoing shall excuse a dog for potter- 
ing, or for failure to leave his handler in hunting his ground. Every 
dog will be expected to go on when ordered, to cover his ground 
thoroughly, to obey the commands of his handler, and to show a 
desire and ability to find game as well as to drive it. 



314 Appendix 

In the classes for packs, team work, not individual work, shall 
count. The dogs will be expected to hunt within easy distance of 
one another, to hark in quickly, and to drive at an even speed well 
packed. 

A person selected, when ordered by the judges, shall discharge 
one barrel of a gun over each dog or brace of dogs while driving. 
If the dog exhibits signs of gun-shyness, both barrels shall be dis- 
charged over him on the trail. If the dog is thus proved to be gun- 
shy, he shall be debarred from competition in the trials. 



INDEX 



Adams, Mr., owner of setters Dora Bang Bang, 27, 29 



and Drake, 57. 
Airedale terriers, 15. 
Alberta Joe, 34. 
Albert Lang, 71. 
Albert's Nellie, 75. 
Albert's Woodcock, 88-89, 92> 93- 
Alford's John, 22, 38, 82. 
Almo, 64. 

Alonsita Round, 149. 
Alpine Lad, 32, 38, 39. 
American Championship field trial, 

263. 
American Coursing Board, 124-125. 
American Kennel Club Studbook, 

12, 13, 14. 
American Waterloo Cup, 113, 122. 
Anne of Abbotsford, 228. 
Antonio, 31, 74, 76, 80, 248, 250. 
Comparison of, with Gladstone, 

202-203. 
Argus, 108. 
Armstrong's Kate, 66. 
"Ashmont," books of, 239. 
Askins, Charles, 249-250. 
Astral Maid, 247. 
Astronomy, 116, 247. 
Australia, greyhounds imported 

from, 115. 
Aveline, loi. 
Avent, trainer, 223-224. 

Babazoun, 116. 

Bacchanal, i66. 

Backing, 232-233. 

Bang (Trinket's), 31, 34, 183, 248. 



Bannerman, 145, 149. 
Barkby Ben, 166. 
Baronet, 149. 
Bartelses, the, 117. 
Barton Tory, 88. 
Birdsong, 136. 

Bishop, Mr., promoter of Irish set- 
ters, lOO-IOI. 
Beagles, i, 143-155- 

Appearance, 149-150. 

Bench-show standard for, 309. 

Cottontails and, 152-153. 

Field trials for, 263. 

Fox terriers and, 165. 

Kennels of, 145, 148. 

Packs of, 148, 1 5 1- 1 54, 208. 

Running rules in field trials, 313. 

Training unnecessary with, 234. 
Beau Brummel, 93. 
Beaudesart setters, 57. 
Beaumont, 108, 109. 
Bell, W. S., 9. 
Belle, 39. 

Belle of Hard Bargain, 43. 
Belmont, 108, 109. 
Belmont, August, 165-166. 
Belton (Bolus's), 50, 67, 246. 
Beltons, 87-88. 
Bench shows, benefit from, 254-255. 

Chicago (1901), 92. 

Classes at, 257-258. 

First American, 256. 

Kansas City (1900), 92. 

Mineola, N.Y. (1874), 256. 

New York (1889), 29. 



315 



3i6 



Index 



Bench shows [coniinued'\ — 
St. Louis (1897), 124, 173. 
St. Louis (1899), 37. 
Westminster Kennel Club(i876), 
256. 

Bendigo, 109. 

Ben Law, 92. 

Beppo II, 29. 

Bergundthal's Fanny, 65. 

Bergundthal's Rake, 48, 57, 64-65, 

245- 
Berkeley, 103, 204, 205. 
Bertraldo, 29. 
Betty B., 249. 
Bettye S., 74. 
Blackstone, 34. 
Blaze, 63. 

Blemton kennels, 165. 
Blinking, 284-285. 
Blitz, 149. 
Bloomo, 29. 

Blue beltons, 42, 43, 87, 91. 
Blue Ridge Kennel, 250. 
Bob White, the, 5. 
Bohemian Girl, 73-74, 177. 
Bolting, 172-173, 287-2S8. 
Bolus's Belton, 50, 67, 246. 
Bones, danger of feeding, to dogs, 

237- 
Boomerang, 117. 
Bopeep, 65. 

Boston terriers, 2, 15, 162, 257. 
Bow, 28, 206. 
Bracken o' Leek, 89. 
Bracket, 29. 
Bradley, S. C, 35. 
Brake, 29. 

Breaking, question of, in shooting- 
dogs, 197-199- 
Breeding, 241-253. 

British vs. American, 4-5. 
Breese, James L., 265. 
Breeze Gladstone, 73. 
Britain Still, 116. 
Brown, E. J., 124. 



Brunswick Fur Club trials (1903), 

142. 
Bryson, David, 60, 68. 
Bryson, P. H., 9, 60, 68, 188-189, 

199-203. 
Buckell, Mr. Teasdale-, 42, 43, 49, 

50, 66, 68, 223. 
Buck Jr., 206. 
Burges, Arnold, 57. 
Butte, coursing at, I14-I15. 

Cairnsmuir kennels (fox terriers), 

165. 
Cahph, 122. 

Cameron's Racket, 145. 
Campbell setters, 67-68, 206. 
Canada, dogs for shooting in, 194- 

197. 
Captain Jack, 82. 
Cap Tough, 81. 
Care of dogs, 235-240. 
Carmen, 122. 

Carnochan, Mr., proprietor Cairns- 
muir kennels, 165, 166. 
Carroll Island Club, 159, 160, 161, 

162. 
Castleman's Rex, loi. 
Champion Bang, 26. 
Champion Bow, 28, 206. 
Champion Mike, 30. 
Chance, 74. 
Charging, 233. 
Chesapeake Bay dogs, 2, 14, 156-163. 

Bench-show standard for, 307. 

Origin of, 158. 
Chicken trials, 39. 
Chief, 103. 
Chimer, 144. 
Chiquita, 46-47. 
Cincinnalus, 62, 75. 

False pointing by, 169-170. 
Cincinnatus's Pride, 52, 75-76, 96, 

228, 246. 
Class, definition of term, 211. 
Claude Duval, 166. 



Index 



317 



Claudian, 166. 

Clip Wind'em, 221. 

Cloud, 145. 

Clubs, field trial, 264-265. 

Hunt, in America, 127-129. 
Clumber spaniels, i. 
Clyde, 76, 146. 
Cocker spaniels, i, 179-180. 

For rufied grouse, 177. 
Cole, James, 90, 246. 
Coleraine, loi. 
Cole's Lady, 90. 
Collies, I, 15, 257. 
Colonel R., 78-79, 191-194. 
Color, of English setters, 40-45. 

Importance of, in quail-shooting, 
46-47. 
Colors, preferred, for pointers and 

setters, 177. 
Conformation, importance of, 3-4. 
Consolation, 27. 
Contango, 115. 
Cooke, Charles B., 81. 
Coomassie, 255. 
'Coon dogs, 154-155- 

Fox terriers as, 165. 
Copper Coin, 39. 
Cora of Wetheral, 87. 
Cornerstone, 29. 
Cottontails and beagles, 143, 152- 

153- 
Count Danstone, 52, 71. 
Count Eric, 31. 
Countess, 56, 85. 
Countess Bear, 42, 63. 
Countess Meteor, 45, 71-72. 
Count Fauster, 30. 
Count Gladstone IV, 70-71, 83, 182, 

248. 
Count Howard, 13, 87, 90. 
Count Hunter, 68. 
Count Noble, 57, 61-62, 73, 169, 

248. 
Count Noble setters, 12, 13, 15-16. 
Count Whitestone, 43, 44, 80. 



Count Wind'em, 42, 61. 
Coursing, uo-123. 
Judges in, 263. 
Crawford Lad, 114. 
Crocker, George, 35, 265. 
Croxteth, 27. 

Croxteth pointers, 25, 183. 
Cuba Jr., 22. 
Currer Bell HI, 102. 
Currer Bell IV, 102. 
Currer Maid, 102. 

Dad Wilson, 62. 

Dager, Mr., owner of setters, 75, 170. 

Daisy F., 51, 63, 68. 

Daisy Hope, 63, 68, 177. 

Daisy Hunter, 43, 63, 68. 

Dakota, 119, 124. 

Dan (Llewellin's), 60, 64. 

Dan (Statter's), 56. 

Dan Gladstone, 72-73, 250. 

Dan Maloney, 161. 

Danforth's Nick, flushing by, 172. 

Dan's Lady, 71, 79, 191. 

Dart, 65. 

Dash II, 42, 49, 66. 

Dash Antonio, 77, 182. 

Dashing Bondhu, 66. 

Dashing Dixie, 80-81. 

Dashing Lavellette, 66-67. 

Dashing Monarch, 66. 

Dave Earl, 71. 

Exhibition by Joe Gumming and, 
217-218. 
Davidson, John, 10, 81, 86. 
Delhi, 31. 
Desmond II, 104. 
Devereux, H. K., 188, 189-193. 
Devonshire setters, 26. 
Dexter, Col. Edward, 6, 25. 
Diana, 11 7-1 18. 
Dick Bondhu, 17, 
Dick (Statter's), 56. 
Dido II, 62. 
Diffenderfer, W. Stewart, 144-145. 



3i8 



Index 



Diseases of dogs, 240. 

Dixie's Rod, 81. 

Doc Hick, 175-176. 

Doc's light, 32. 

Dog shows. See Bench shows. 

Dolly, 144, 147. 

Domoko, 80. 

Don (Arnold's), 109. 

Don (Vandervort's), 30. 

Donald Bane, 90. 

Don's Nellie, 249. 

Dora, 44, 57, 245. 

Dorsey, Pottinger, 144. 

Dorsey's Pilot, 144, 149. 

Dot (Pearl's), 28, 31, 249. 

Dot II, 36-37. 

Dot's Daisy, 32. 

Dot's Jingo, 32. 

Dot's Pearl, 31-32, 248. 

Dover, 122. 

Downham Victor, 109. 

Drake, 26, 34, 57. 

Drillmaster, 32. 

Druid, 44, 57, 62. 

Duke of Edgeworth, 108. 

Duke Elcho, 101. 

Duke (Field's), 56. 

Duke of Hessen, 29, 32-33, 248. 

Duke-Rhoebe combination, 57-58. 

Duke of Vernon, 29. 

Duke of York, 39. 

Duryea, Herman, 83, 265. 

Dusky Don II, 166. 

Dusky Trap, 1 66. 

Edwards, Harry R., 79, 187-188, 

189-194. 
Elcho, 68, 103, 104, 204-205. 
Elcho Jr., 103. 
Elcho's Maid, loi. 
Emin Pasha, 121, 122. 
English setters, 12, 40-52, 96. 

Bench-show standards for, 301. 

Cheerfulness of temper of, 183- 
184. 



English setters {^continued'] — 

Preference for, in America, 13-16. 
See Laveracks and Llewellins. 

Erin, 103, 205-206. 

Erin II, 100. 

Ethan Allen family, 78. 

Exhibitions. See Bench shows. 

Fabulous Fortune, 114, 

Fair Helen, 122. 

False pointing, 169-171. 

Fanny Murnan, 72, 250. 

Faust, 28, 204, 206-208. 

Fear Not, 119. 

Females, working of pregnant, 239- 

240. 
Fernkas, Mr., owner of K. C. Kent, 

Fiddler, 148. 

Field Dog Studbook, 13-14. 

Field's Duke, 56. 

Field spaniels, i. 

Field trials, benefit derived from, 

254-255- 

Beginning of, 258. 

Date of establishment, in Eng- 
land, 53. 

Judges at, 259, 261-262. 

Methods of judging at, 258-259. 

Number of annual, 263. 

Running rules, 311-313. 

Unimportance of, in England, 55. 
Fingal III, loi. 
Fingalin, loi. 
Finglas, loi. 
Fitzhugh Lee, 144, 146. 
Flirt 0' Leek, 89. 
Florist, 148. 
Flushing, fault of, 1 71-172, 289- 

290. 
Food for dogs, 237-238. 
Forester, Frank, 177. 
For Freedom, 121. 
Fortuna Favente, 114, 121. 
Foxhounds, i, 2, 10, 126-142. 



Index 



319 



Foxhounds \^continued'\ — 

Bench-show standard for English, 
308-309. 

Enghsh vs. American, 141-142. 

Families of, in the South, 134. 

Field trials for, 263. 

"Miniature," 149-150, 155, 

Packs of, 10, 127-129. 

Training unnecessary with, 234. 
Fox-hunting, 126-1 33. 

American vs. English, 131-132. 

Ladies and, 130-131. 
Fox terriers, 15, 164-167, 257. 

Bench-show standard for, 310. 

Specimens of, 166. 
Franke, Mr., importer of Luck of 

the Goat, 2>Z- 
Frank Forest, 146, 149. 
Fred, 64. 
Fred Elcho, 104. 
Freeland, 148. 
Friend, lOO. 
Frisco, 104. 
Furlough Mike, 36. 

Gath, 59, 69, 177, 246. 

Comparison of, with Gladstone, 

200-201. 
Gath's Hope, 69, 76, loi, 246, 250. 
Gath's Mark, 69, 201-202, 250. 
Example of inbreeding, 246. 
Gem, 69, 102, 246. 
Geneva, 59, 76, 264. 
Gentry, Laurence, 149. 
Georgia Belle, 63. 
Geraldine, 245. 
Gilda, 119, 122. 
Gilhooley, 87, 88. 
Gilkirk, 119. 
Girl, 65. 
Gladstone, 57, 59-61, 67, 177, 189, 

248. 
Later Llewellins compared with, 

199-203. 
Gladstone's Boy, 72, 200. 



Gladstone setters, 12, 13, 15-16, 18. 

Gleam, 50, 63, 77, 80. 

Gleam blood, 77, 80, 82. 

Gleam's Fink, 63-64. 

Gleam's Sport, 63-64, 77, 250. 

Gleason, Andy, 249. 

Glendyne greyhounds, 116. 

Glenkirk, 119. 

Go Bang, 166. 

Godeffroy, Mr., owner of Croxteth, 

27. 
Gorham's Jing, 32. 
Gossip, 250. 
Gould, George J., 36. 
Gould, Jay, as an illustration of 

"class," 212-213. 
Gordon Setter Club, 109. 
Gordon setters, 12, 14, 20, 105-109. 

Bench-show standard for, 307. 

Coloring, 106-107, 

Origin, 106-IO7, 

Specimens of, 108-109. 

Uncertainty of temper of, 183- 
184. 
Grace, James, 114. 
Grace, John, 114, 121, 263. 
Graphic, 29, 38. 
Gray, George, 100, 189. 
Graydon, H. Marshall, 92, 187-188, 

194-197. 
Greentick, 115, 116, 120. 
Greyhounds, i, 2, 1 10-125. 

Bench-winners, 123-124. 

Breeding-results with, 247. 

Food of, 238. 

Jack-rabbits and, 115, 

Training, 234-235, 238. 
Grouse, cockers for hunting, 177. 
Grousedale, 68. 
Guinotte, Judge, 29, 80. 
Gun-shyness, 171, 233. 
Gus Bondhu, 17. 

Guthrie, Mr., promoter of Irish set- 
ters, 105. 
Guyasuta beagles, 148, 151. 



320 



Index 



Hair, Dr. J. E., lo, 89, 93. 

Hal Pointer, 33. 

Hall, Dr. Stanley, 184-185. 

Hamlet, 26. 

Harold, 69. 

Harold Skimpole, 190. 

Harris, Miles, 137. 

Harvard, 190. 

Harwick, 67, 79, 190, 191, 193. 

Hearst, Mrs., 71. 

" Heat " system of judging at field 

trials, 259. 
Heather Donald, 108. 
Heather Lad, 108. 
Herschel, 115. 
Hester Prynne, 71. 
Hi Di, loi. 

Highland Fleet, 87, 88, 92, 93. 
Hope Boru, loi. 
Hops, 25, 30-31. 
Hornell- Harmony kennels, 145. 
Hotspur, 117. 
Hounds, pure English, 139-142. See 

Beagles and Foxhounds. 
Hudson, Shelley, 73. 
Hudspeth, Mr., foxhounds owned 

by, 129. 
Hughes, Colonel, pointers imported 

for, 207. 
Hulman, Mr., organizer of Blue 

Ridge Kennel, 250, 
Hunt clubs, American, 127. 
Hydrophobia, 240. 

"Idstone" (Rev. Mr. Pierce), 84. 
Inbreeding, 244-246. 

Dr. Stark's experiments in, 65, 

245- 
Of foxhounds, 138. 
Interstate Championship field trials, 

43, 78, 263. 
Irish Setter Club, 101-102. 
Irish setters, 12, 14, 20, 97-105, 
204-206. 
Bench-show standard for, 306. 



Irish setters \_conim7ied'\ — 

Bench-show winners, 102-104. 

Coloring, 104-105. 

Field trial performances, 101-102, 

Retrieving by, 157. 

Uncertainty of temper of, 183. 
Irish water-spaniels, 14, 156, 158, 
160-161, 162-163. 

Bench-show standard for, 310. 
Island Boy, 39. 

Jack-rabbits and greyhounds, 115. 
Jealousy, fault of, 1 73, 232, 288-289, 

290-291. 
Jeff (Mason's), 51, 68. 
Jester, 117. 
Jester, Mr., owner of Wild Rake, 

245. 
Jim o' the Hill, 119, 122. 
Jingo, 16, 32, 34, 177, 183, 248. 

Late development of, 228-229, 
Jingo Boy (Speck's), 39. 
Jingo's Light, 32, 183, 207, 

Gun-shyness of, 171. 
Jingo's Pearl, 32. 
Joe Cumming, 77, 264. 

Exhibition of "class" by, 216- 
218. 
Joe Jr., 68, 100, 204. 
John (Alford's), 22, 38, 82. 
Johnson, Thomas, 34. 
Jolly G., 109. 
Judging, in coursing greyhounds, 

"3. 

In field trials, 258-264. 
Judy, 142. 
July, 137-138. 

July-Birdsong foxhounds, 134-138. 
Just Eclipsed, 116. 

Kate (Armstrong's), 66. 
K. C. Kent, 33, 34. 
Keene, Foxhall, 10, 129. 
Kennels, 235-236. See Packs. 
Kennerly, W. C, 245. 



Index 



321 



Kent Elgin, 33. 
Kentucky, beagles in, 149. 
Kernochan, Mr., owner of Hemp- 
stead pack, 148-149. 
Keswick, 204. 
Khartoum, 31. 
King Cyrano, 32, 47, 175, 183. 

Quality of "class" in, 218-219. 
King Death, 115. 
King of Kent, 16, 25, 29, 30-31, 33, 

34, 38, 248. 
Kingston, death of, caused by bone, 

237- 
Krueger, A. C, 145. 

Ladies, and fox-hunting, 130-131. 

Beagle packs as an attraction 
for, 153. 
Lad of Bow, 29, 34, 183. 
Lad of Jingo, 32, 39, 82. 
Lad of Rush, 34. 
Lady Cole, 90-91, 246. 
Lady Finglas, 102. 
Lady Gay Spanker, 36, 
Lady Maud Mannering, 171. 
Lady May, 249. 
Lady Rachel, 71, 
Lady's Count, 71. 
Lady's Count Gladstone, 59, 71, 79, 

264. 
Lady Swiveller, I02. 
Lane, Charles H., 8, 310. 
Lansdowne Malt, 39. 
Lass of Bow, 29. 

Latrobe, Gen. Ferdinand C, 158-160. 
Laundress, 250. 
Laura B., 103. 
Laverack, Edward, 17, 19. 
Laverack setters, 12, 13, 14, 16, 18- 
19. 55-56,^4-96. 

Breeding difficulties, 94-95. 

Colors, 93. 

Faults of, 85. 

Foundation dogs of Llewellin 
breed, 57. 
Y 



Laverack setters [con/i/tuedl — 

Hunting qualities, 94. 

Importance of, in America, 85-86. 

Llevvellins vs., 95-96. 

Size of, 58. 

Specimens of, 87-93. 

"Straight-bred," 49-5 1. 

Value of, 19. 
Ledbetter, H. B., 77, 81. 
Lee, 144, 208. 
Lee H, 144. 
Lee, Rawdon, 8. 
Leicester, 57, 62-63, 
Leigh Doane, 104. 
Lemon-and-whites (Llewellins), 42. 

Gleam line of, 64. 
Lill, 85. 
Lill IL 63. 
Lillian Russell, 83. 
Lily Burges, 250. 
Lincoln, 57, 63. 
Lit, 65, 68. 
Little Boy, 108, 
Little Fairy, 247, 
Llewellin, Mr., 42. 
LlewelHn setters, 12, 13, 14, 16-18, 

53-83. 

Coloring of, 41-42. 

Defined, 13. 

Foundations of, 57-58. 

Gladstone compared with later, 
199-203. 

Jealousy an attribute of, 232. 

Origin of, 54-57- 

Pure (so-called), 48-51. 

Qualities, mental, 58-59. 

Size of, 58, 59. 

Specimens of, 55-56, 59-83, 96. 

" Straight-bred," 49-51. 

Weight (normal), 59. 
London, 93. 
Lonely, 148, 149. 
Lonsdale, Heywood, 34. 
Loo n, 103, 204. 
Lora, 72. 



322 



Index 



Lord Clifton, ii8. 

Lord Lismore, 92, 102-103, 104. 

Lord Neversettle, 117, 119. 

Lorillard, Pierre, 6, 265. 

Lou, 102, 144-145. 

Lowe, F. C, 116. 

Lowe, H. C, 116-117, 174. 

Lucas, J. B. C, 28. 

Lucifer, 166. 

Luck of the Goat, 31, 33-34. 

Luse, D. C, 116. 

Maclin, Dr., 189. 

McDougall, Mr., owner of Tatlah, 

114. 
MacEachran, Dr., authority on 

hounds, 128. 
McKinley, 82-83, 96. 
McMurdo, Captain, 25, 31, 32. 
Madam Llewellin, 245. 
Madcap, 89. 
Mad-dog scare, 240. 
Madison, P. T., 9, 65, 76. 
Maffitt, Charles C, 28. 
Magician, 119, 124, 173. 
Maiden Mine, 63-64. 
Maid of Kent, 31. 
Mainspring, 25, 30, t,?,, 34> loi- 
Malcolm, Harry, 107-108. 
Mallory, J. D., 160. 
Mallwyd Sirdar, 86, 89. 
Malt, 2,2,- 

Manchester Kennel, 250. 
Manitoba Derby, the, 8. 
Marie's Sport, 22, 52, 59, 67, 77, 81, 

182, 190. 
Marse Ben, 64, 79-80. 

Exhibition of "class" by, 219- 
220. 

Specimen of inbreeding, 246, 
Mason's Jeff, 51, 68. 
Master Dennis, 119. 
Master McGrath, 255. 
Master Peter, 118. 
Mather, Charles E., 10, 128, 133. 



Maupin, Wash, 134-135. 
Maxim, 207-208. 
Maximus, 25. 
Meally, 29, 39. 
Mecca, 64. 
Mecca II, 80. 

Medicines for dogs, 236-237. 
Meersbrook Bristles, 166. 
Melita, 118, 124. 
Mellier, Walter, 73. 
Mendel's law applied to dogs, 252. 
Merrill, Richard, 74. 
Meteor, 28, 207-208. 
Middlesex Hunt beagles, 148, 152. 
Mike, 30. 

Miller's Rab, 119, 120, 173. 
Mills, Dr. Wesley, 239. 
Mingo, 74-75. 

Miniature foxhounds, 149-150, 155. 
Miss Glendyne, 116. 
Missouri Field Trial Club, 33. 
Miss Ruby, 72. 
Miss Rumor, 36. 

" Modern Laverack " defined, 14. 
Mohawk, 22, 45, 59, 67, 70, 71-72, 
76, 80, 83, 203. 
Exhibitions of " class " by, 223- 
224. 
Monk of Furness, 13, 87-88, 90, 94. 
Monsoon, 122, 247. 
Montreal Hunt Club, 128-129. 
Moore, A. H., 103, 205. 
Moore, Dr. W. G., 82. 
Mortimer, James, 10, 91, 92. 
Mountain, 136-137. 
Mulcaster, Edward, 119. 
Munson, John W., 28. 
Muse, 136-137. 
Mystic Maid, 119, 247. 

Naso of Kippen blood in Jingo's 

Light, 38. 
National Championship Association, 

264. 
Nebraska Derby, the, 8. 



Index 



3'^3 



Nellie, 56, 85. 

Nesbitt, Mr., handler of Jingo, 32. 

Nora, 61. 

Norfolk kennels, 165. 

Northern Surprise, 119. 

Nugget II, 102. 

Oakley Hill, 79, 90, 96. 

O'Bannon, P. H., 245, 250. 

Old Fannie, 51, 68. 

Old Moll, 84. 

" Old pie " bitches, 249. 

Orange-and-whites (Llewellins), 42. 

Value of, in quail-shooting, 47. 
Orange beltons, 88. 
Orangeman (beagle), 148. 
Orangeman (Llevvellin setter), 88. 
Orgill, Mr., exhibitor of pointers, 256. 
Orlando, 74. 
Orthwein, Ralph, 119. 
Ortiz Lad, 43, 47. 
Osborne Ale, 33. 
Ossian, 27, 183. 

Oughten, Dr., Gordon setters im- 
ported by, 108. 

Packs, beagle, 148, 151-154. 

Foxhound, lo, 127-129. 
Palmerston, 245. 
Pape pointers, 25. 
Parry, Arthur, 145, 146. 
Partera, 117, 119. 
Partridge shooting, qualities in dogs 

essential for, 195. 
Pathfinder, 114. 
Patria, 118. 
Patricius, I02. 
Paul Bo, 74, 177. 
Paul Gladstone, 73. ^ 
Pearl's Dot, 28, 31, 249. 
Pearl's Fan, 31, 34. 
Pearlstone, 31. 
Pease, James, 265. 

Pedigree, question of, in choosing 
dogs, 181-186. 



Peep o' Day, 69. 

Peeress, 85. 

Percival Jingo, 32, 78. 

Petrel, 60, 85. 

Phantom, 85. 

Philadelphia, hunt clubs about, 127. 

Pierce, Rev. Mr. (" Idstone "), 84. 

Pilgrim, 148. 

Pilot (Dorsey's) 144, 149. 

Pin Money, 43. 

Plain Sam, t,!,, 183. 

Pointers, i, 12, 16, 24-39, 207-208. 

Bench-show standard for, 301. 

G. J. Gould's, 36. 

Gun-shyness of, 233. 

"Natives," 24. 

Pedigree dicta for, 183. 

Prairie chicken and, 178-179. 

Preferred colors for, 177. 

vs. setters, 19-20. 
Pontiac, 29. 
Ponto, 84. 
Prairie chicken, field trials on, 263. 

Pointers for hunting, 178-179. 
Pretender, 118-I19, 122. 
Pretti Sing, 76. 
Priam, 33. 
Primate, 148. 
Prime Minister, 71. 
Prince Bloomfield, 102, 103, 
Prince Charhe, 117, 119. 
Prince Lucifer, 182. 
Prince Lyndon, 78, 81-82. 
Prince Rodney, 44, 80, 96. 

Exhibition of "class" by, 219- 
220. 
Princess Alice, 39. 
Princess Beatrice, 87. 
Princess Kate, 26. 
Prince Victor, 104. 
Psyche, 57. 
Ptarmigan, 115. 

Quail (Irish setter), 245. 
Quail, field trials on, 263. 



3^4 



Index 



Quail {^continued'] — 

Setters for hunting, 179. 

Quail-shooting, in Canada, 195. 
Importance of color of dogs in, 
45-46. 

Queen II, 32. 

Queen Fan, 29. 

Queen's Place Pride, 22, 89. 
"Class" quality of, 210-211. 

Queen Vic, 52. 

Quickstitch, 118, 124. 

Rabbit dogs, fox terriers as, 165. 
Rabbits, annoyance caused trainers 

by, 233-234. 
Raccoon hunting, 154-155. 
Rachel, 166. 

Racket (Cameron's), 145. 
Rake (Bergundthal's), 48, 57, 64-65, 

245- 
Ranger (Macdona's), 66. 
Rank (Scudder's), 25. 
Rap's Pointer, 39. 
Rattler III, 145. 
Ready II, 100. 
Retrievers, water, i. 
Retrieving, fault of, 232, 285-286. 

From water, 156. 
Revel III, 29. 
Rex (Castleman's), 30. 
Rhoebe, 31, 42, 56-57, 58, 64. 
Richards, trainer, 228. 
Riding to hounds, 127, 129-132, 

152-153. 
Ringwood, 148, 149. 
Riot, 146-147. 
Rip Rap, 26, 31, Z2>, 34, 35-36, 183, 

248. 
Ripstone, 31, 183. 
Robert le Diable, 27, 36. 
Robinson, Charles A., 81, I17-I18. 
Rockingham, 87. 

Rock Ridge beagles, 148, 151-152. 
Roderigo, 59, 70-71, 182, 201, 202, 

248. 



Roderigo-Bopeep family, 74. 
Rodfield, 45, 59, 69, 74, 76, 182. 

Compared with Gladstone, 202. 
Rodfield's Pride (Cowley's), 43, 47, 

78. 
Rogers, Dr., field trial judge, 176- 

177. 
Roger Williams, 27. 
Roi d'Or, 76. 
Roman Athlete, 114. 
Romp, 26, 30. 
Rose, Dave, 249, 250. 
Ross, Major A. J., 37. 
Rosseter, J. H., 121. 
Rosy, 144. 

Rowdy Rod, 31, 248. 
Rowett, General, 144. 
Royal Crest, 120, 122. 
Royal Duke, 108. 
Royal Forest, 146. 
Royal Krueger, 145. 
Royal Prince II, 87. 
Royce, Dr. G. I., 116. 
Rubber Ankles, 1 14. 
Ruby, 64. 

Ruby Glenmore, lOl. 
Rumney Racket, 89. 
Rumney Ranger, Sg, 93. 
Rumor, 29. 

Sacramento Boy, 122. 

Sailor, 146, 149. 

St. Clair, 114, 118. 

St. Lawrence, 118. 

St. Louis, duck-shooting about, 157. 

St. Louis Kennel Club, 25, 28, 36, 

204. 
Sally Brass, 35. 
Sally Brass II, 29. 
Salter, Dr., 26. 
Sam (beagle), 144. 
Sam (Llewellin's), 50, 
Sam, Lord Sefton's (pointer), 26, 

28, 34. 
Sanborn, David, 61. 



Index 



3^S 



Sandor von Inn, 92. 

San Francisco, coursing in, 120-122. 

Sarstield, 100. 

Scandal, 119. 

Schaefer, Jacob, as an example of 

"class," 213-214. 
Scotland Yet, 115. 
Scudder, Charles W., 97-98. 
Sefton-Edge combination, 26. 
Selah, 31. 
Selkirk Dan, 96. 
Senator P., 35. 
Sensation, 26. 
Setters, coloring of, 40-45, 1 77. 

Gun-shyness of, 233. 

Hunting with, 17, 178, 179. 

Qualities of, to be judged, 86. 

vs. pointers, 19-20. 

See English setters, Gordon set- 
ters, Irish setters, Laver- 
acks, and Llewellins. 
Seven-Up, 68. 

False pointing by, 1 70-1 71. 
Shattuc, General, 9, 206. 
Shaun, 102. 
Sheldon, 87. 

Shellhass, Mr., beagles bred by, 145. 
Shirley, 142. 

Short, Mr., handler of Gath, 201. 
Shows. See Bench shows. 
Sioux, 59, 71, 221, 264. 
Sir Walter, 37. 
Skip, 146. 
Sleaford, 28. 

Sleeping-places for dogs, 235. 
Smith, L. H., 60, 85. 
Snipe, use of dogs in hunting, 178. 
Snipe shooting in Canada, 196. 
Somerset kennels (beagles), 145. 
Spaniels, quality of companionship, 
180. See Cocker spaniels 
and Insh water-spaniels. 
Spinaway, 204. 
Sport McAllister, 76. 
Sport's Belle, 77, 193-194. 



Sport's Boy, 43, 47, 77, 81, 182, 215- 

216. 
Sport's Destiny, 78. 
Sport's Gath, 77, 81, 96. 

False pointing by, 171. 
Sport's Lady, 78, 182. 
Sportsman, 73. 

Sport's Solomon, 77, 81, 182. 
Spot Cash, 63-64, 189. 
Spotted Boy, 28. 
" Spotting " system of judging at 

field trials, 259. 
Spring, 30. 
Spring Dot, 218. 

Squirrel dogs, fox terriers as, 165. 
Stark, Dr., experiments in breeding 

by, 65, 245. 
Startle, 39. 
Statter, Mr., setters bred by, 56- 

57- 
Sterling, E. C, 28. 
Stevenson, Fred M., 196. 
Stewart, Redmond, 128. 
"Stonehenge" (Dr. Walsh), 8, 56, 

84. 
Storm, 145. 
Strideaway, 31. 
Stubble, 107-108. 
Sue, 65, 72, 201. 
Sue H., 90, 92. 
Superstitions concerning treatment 

of dogs, 239-240. 
Sure Shot, 47, 82. 
Sylvia, 118, 124. 

Tallman, William, 10. 

Tammany, 30. 

Tam o' Shanter, 90. 

Tan markings of Llewellins, 42. 

Tapster, 31. 

Tatlah, 114. 

Taylor, Major, 9, 75. 

Teasdale-Buckell, Mr., 42, 43, 49, 

50, 66, 68, 223. 
Temper of setter breeds, 183-184. 



326 



Index 



Terriers. See Boston terriers and 

Fox terriers. 
The O'Donoghue, i6i. 
Thomas, George C, Jr., 89, 96. 
Thor, 205-206. 
Thornfield Knockout, 166. 
Thoughtless Beauty, 1 14. 
Thunder, 86. 
Tiburon, 114, 122. 
Tick Boy, 33. 
Tillie Boru, 100. 
Tim, 102, 103. 
Titus, W. W., 245, 249. 
Toledo Blade, 75. 
Tony Boy, 59, 71, 74, 76, 182, 248. 

Result of inbreeding, 246. 
Tony Man, 76. 
Tony's Gale, 77, 264. 
Topgallant, 92. 
Topsy's Rod, 67, 248. 
Tory Fashion, 190. 
Tracy, J. M., 27, 205, 
Training, 226-235. 

Sketch illustrative of, 280-291. 
Training period, duration of, 228. 
Trales, the (greyhounds), 1 1 6. 
Trap Jr., 78, 190, 191. 
Trigg, Ilayden C, 136. 
Trigg foxhounds, 134-136. 
Trinket's Bang, 31, 34, 183, 248. 
Truman, 148. 
Tuberose, 64. 

Turner, Charles H., 28, 204-209. 
Two Spot, 32. 

Ulverstone Rap, 89-90. 
Uncle B., 79, 191-192. 
Updike, trainer, 172, 218. 

Vandergrift, Mr., importer and ex- 
hibitor, 88-89, 104, 108. 
Vandervort's Don, 30. 
Van Hummell, Dr. Q., 1 1 6. 
Varner, William I., 133. 
Verdure Clad, 116. 



Vicary terriers, 166. 

Vic's Vic, 68, 92. 

Victress, 85. 

Voorhees, Martin, 187-188, 197-199. 

Waddell, A. C, 65. 
Wadsworth, Major, 10, 127-128. 
Walker foxhounds, 134-135. 

Coloring, 136. 
Walsh, Dr. (" Stonehenge "), 8, 56, 

84. 
Warren kennels, 165. 
Warrior, 208. 
Warwick Nellie, loi. 
Washington, Mr., kennel of Irish 

setters owned by, 100. 
Waterloo Cup stake, no, 255. 
Water retrievers, i, 2. 
Water-spaniels. See Irish vi'ater- 

spaniels. 
Watson, Herbert, 120. 
Weems, Mr., experience with a 

daughter of Cincinnatus, 

170. 
Wenzel, Mr., supporter of Irish 

setters, ico, 103. 
Westminster Kennel Club, 25. 
Wheatley, W. A., 68. 
Whip, 107. 
Whippet racing, 125. 
White-black-tan, American prefer- 
ence for, 41-42, 48. 
White Lips, 117, 249. 
Whitford, C. B., 205-206, 208-209, 
Wildcat hunting, 127. 
Wild Rake, 245. 
William H., 100. 
Williams, Col. Roger D., 116. 
Wilson, B. F., 61, 
Windholz, Mr., modern Laveracks 

owned by, 87. 
Winged Foot, 122. 
Winner's Victoria, 91-92. 
Wire-hair terriers, 166. 
Wolf-hunting, 126-127. 



Index 



327 



Woodcock (Laverack setter), 88-89, 

92, 93- 
Woodcock, in Canada, 196. 

Use of dogs in hunting, 178. 
Woodson, General, 98-99. 
Worms, medicine for, 236. 
Wun Lung, 248. 



Wyeth, Huston, 33. 

Young Jingo, 31, 32. 
Young Rip Rap, 31, 39, 183. 
Yours Truly, 114. 

Zig Zag, 31. 



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